First Kiss
by Starhawk
Summary: Summer break isn't much of a vacation when the Phantom Ranger shows up with news of Zordon. The Astro Rangers call in some favors to keep Earth safe as they depart for deep space. First Saga 1.
1. First Kiss

_ Disclaimer: It's possible that I could come up with an idea as silly as Power Rangers--but I could never make it work. Saban does that, and they have my respect and thanks._

**

First Kiss  
by Starhawk

**

"Man, those quantrons were tough," TJ declared as they demorphed.

"You're just out of shape," Cassie teased, springing down the steps of the Megaship to the deck below their glider tubes.

"Either way," Carlos interjected, "That was *not* what I had in mind for my morning workout."

Ashley reached her hands up to massage her shoulders. "I'm with you, Carlos. Even morphed, I took some serious blows from those guys."

Already on his way out the door, Andros rolled his eyes. He couldn't help it--something about Ashley Hammond made it impossible to take her seriously. No matter what she said, she could contradict it at a moment's notice, and no matter how much she complained, she'd be in there swinging whenever they needed her.

"I'll be lucky if I'm not stiff as a board by lunchtime," TJ commented, and as Andros escaped into the hallway and headed for the Bridge, he heard Ashley's irritatingly cheery reply.

"Time for some backrubs!"

Andros shook his head. *I don't think I even want to know,* he thought, but his curiosity got the best of him. When he'd finished the routine Bridge chores, he wandered down past the Rangers' living quarters, looking for the others.

He found them in Carlos's room, aligned on the floor in various sitting positions. Each faced the left-hand wall, and they all had their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them--except for Ashley, who sat at the front of the line.

*Some bizarre Earth tradition?* he wondered, watching them knead each other's shoulders and backs. *What's the point?*

"Andros!" TJ exclaimed, finally noticing his silent presence in the doorway. "Come on in, man!"

"Yeah, Andros," Cassie agreed, "you look like you could use a backrub as much as any of us."

Before he could answer, Ashley twisted a little to look at him and gesture. "C'mere; you can sit in front of me."

He hesitated, not sure how to decline gracefully. "Come on," Ashley insisted. "It feels great, I promise."

Andros sighed. It looked like there was no getting out of it--and he was still curious as to the purpose of the exercise. He entered the room cautiously, and lowered himself to the floor in front of Ashley, back turned as the rest of them had done.

"I'm not as good as Carlos," she warned, the ever-present smile audible in her voice. "But I'll do my best."

He didn't know what she was talking about, but didn't want to embarrass himself by asking. Then her hands touched his shoulders, and Andros jumped.

"Hey, relax," Ashley said. "It's just a backrub."

"Haven't you had a backrub before?" Cassie asked from behind Carlos.

He just shook his head. He was too startled to attempt any other kind of reply.

"Well, we'll change that," Ashley told him, her tone decisive. She moved her hands over his shoulders, massaging muscles that only became more tense at her touch.

"Mmm," he heard Carlos murmur, "that feels good, Cassie; thanks."

"Anytime," she answered, and Andros wished he could turn around to see their faces.

Ashley sighed. "Andros, you're supposed to *relax.* Sheesh; you've got to be the tensest person I know." 

"Sorry," he offered, not sure why that was a bad thing. Being tense meant you were alert, and being alert kept you alive.

"It's okay. Look, just forget whatever you're thinking about and concentrate on something soothing," Ashley instructed.

"Like rain," Cassie volunteered.

"Rain's not soothing," Carlos objected. "It's wet."

"It is too soothing," Cassie retorted, giving him a playful push.

"Try the stars," TJ spoke up. "That always works for me."

Andros tried to envision a starfield, but all he could concentrate on was the almost painful prodding of Ashley's fingers. He hunched his shoulders, wishing he hadn't come down here to investigate.

"It wouldn't hurt if you weren't so tense," Ashley accused, reading his body language.

He shrugged, pulling away. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"Stay," Ashley commanded, and her voice was so firm that he aborted his attempt to stand and just crouched where he was on the floor, not looking at them.

"You guys switch if you want," Ashley said. "I plan to make Andros relax if it's the last thing I do."

Andros sighed, hearing the mock-threat in her voice. The others shifted positions on the floor, and then Ashley was there again, closer than before, and he let her pull him back down to the ground. She pushed his hair forward over his shoulders and placed her palms flat against his back. Rubbing small circles, the warmth of her hands began to seep into him, and almost against his will, he began to relax a little.

"Hey, TJ, did you study for that math test yet?" Carlos asked, and Andros started at the sudden noise in the once-quiet room.

Ashley blew out her breath in exasperation. "Don't you ever slow down?" she whispered, as TJ launched into one of his tirades against trigonometry.

"What do you mean?" Andros asked.

"I mean, *relax.* Stop thinking about the hundreds of terrible things that *could* happen, and focus on what *is* happening now."

He tried to do as she asked, losing himself to the feel of her hands on his back while TJ's words washed over them all. To his own amazement, he found himself yawning. 

"Thank you," Ashley said with satisfaction. "You're probably as close to calm right now as I've ever seen you."

Cassie's offer of math help overrode Ashley's comment, but Andros still caught it. He said nothing, though, uncertain suddenly about the questions her innocent statement evoked. *Is it only because of the backrub that I'm "calm"?* he wondered. *Or--is it the person who's giving it?*

He didn't want to deal with the kind of responses that query could lead to, and he found himself drawing away from her ministrations once again. He flowed to his feet as quickly as he could and stepped back from the group. "Thank you," he said, eyes flicking between Ashley and the others. "It was… nice."

He left quickly, before they could question his departure, and retreated to his room. Once there, and safely alone again, Andros didn't even bother to turn on the lights. He simply collapsed on his bed and stared at the bottom of the bunk above him. *What just happened?* he wondered. He had run out of Carlos's room; run away from the other Rangers--away from her. *Why?*

He tried to tell himself that it was a silly ritual anyway, this human need to soothe each other after combat. *But I'm human as well…* The thought rose, unbidden, to the surface of his thoughts, and he shook it away. *It wasn't the backrub that made me leave.*

He couldn't possibly have feelings for her. Could he? The one person on the ship that irritated him more than any other? He had only recently accepted that he could have friends; the thought of anything more terrified him. He, who had once been strong enough to stand alone, now relied on others to fight with him. And Ashley…

His eye had been drawn to her from the beginning, but he told himself it was only because she wore the color his sister should have had. And her enthusiasm for everything, whether it was a simple game of pool or the vast wonders of outer space, disturbed him as much as her superficial resemblance to Kerone. That naivete of hers could yet get her killed.

Still--her ebullience drew him to her, almost against his will, and he had found himself at her side more often than not. Innocence was a trait Andros had lost a long time ago, and sometimes he found that… well, he missed it. Seeing that quality in her bothered his rational side, for he knew it would not serve her in their fight against evil--yet there was another part of him that hoped she would never lose it.

It had never been his goal to mingle with these new Rangers, least of all Ashley, but it had happened. It had never been his intention that they know of his past, or the private search he conducted alongside theirs, but it had happened. Somehow, they had become teammates, and finally friends. Would his dawning realization about Ashley prove to be just as inevitable?

*No,* he thought firmly. *There's nothing to realize--I like her, even if I won't admit it to anyone else, but that's as far as it goes. She's… my friend.* "Friend" was the right word, and he decided that some of his discomfort with its use stemmed from his long isolation on the megaship. *I'm not used to having people around me who are my friends, and Ashley's around me more than any of the others. That's probably why she makes me uncomfortable.*

A gentle rap on his door startled him, and he turned his head instinctively toward the sound. "Come in," he called without thinking, still unused to having other people on the ship with him.

The door slid open to admit light, spilling across the floor and making him squint at the silhouette framed in the doorway. It didn't move at first, contemplating the darkness and what it might mean, while Andros cursed himself for not turning the lights up before responding to the knock.

"Andros?" Ashley's voice emanated from the silhouette, sounding rather worried. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he replied shortly, turning his head away from the door and staring at the upper bunk again.

Instead of going away, as he had hoped, she stepped into the room, her shadow lengthening across the floor until the door closed behind her. His eyes, which had been accustomed to the dark, were now useless after the flood of light from the corridor. Ashley had to be in much the same situation, but she didn't complain.

"It's just that you left so suddenly," she remarked cautiously. "We wondered if it was something we did that made you take off like that."

"You did?" he asked, feeling stupid for the question but not knowing how else to answer.

She hesitated for a moment, and he heard her scuff her foot against the floor. "Well… I wondered if it was something I did, actually." 

He thought of his recent reflection, but dismissed it just as quickly, knowing he could never tell her any of it. "No," he managed to say. "It wasn't anything you did."

"Then why are you hiding in your room with no lights on?" Ashley persisted, and he heard her careful footsteps edging closer to his bunk.

"I'm not hiding." His voice sounded sullen even to him, but he made no apology. *She shouldn't be here in the first place,* he thought, conveniently forgetting that he had invited her in.

He could practically hear her roll her eyes. "You *are*hiding. What's wrong, Andros?"

He shivered in the darkness, despite the warmth of the room. The genuine concern in her voice unnerved him, though not as much as his reaction to it. He found himself frighteningly close to telling her the truth. "It's just… you were so nice," his voice lowered to a whisper. "I'm not used to it. I had to be alone for a while."

"Oh, Andros," Ashley murmured sympathetically. Kneeling beside his bunk, she put a hand on his arm. "We'll always be here for you, you know."

His vision, he realized suddenly, had adapted once more to the dim light, for he could see the caring look in her dark eyes. "Thanks," he managed, feeling silly with her leaning over him like that. He swung his legs over the edge of the bunk and sat up, avoiding her gaze.

They waited a moment in uncomfortable silence, then she did something she'd never done before: she reached out and gently touched his face. He started, but it had the desired effect--he looked at her, meeting her gaze with wide eyes. She seemed as though she'd been about to speak, but at his expression she stopped, biting her lip.

Andros didn't move, trapped in her gaze but not knowing what she was expecting. He sat, frozen, as Ashley leaned closer--and then, just for a moment, her lips touched his.

Drawing back, she whispered, "Have you ever been kissed before?"

He shook his head, too startled to speak.

"I'm surprised," she told him, smiling faintly. "If you ever want to do it again, let me know." She laid her hand alongside his face once more, then got to her feet and walked toward the door.

He wanted to call out to her, to stop her from leaving, but he didn't know what to say. So he watched the door slide open, wincing a little as light streamed in from the corridor. She hesitated for a moment, as she had on the way in, then she was gone, her footsteps fading as she walked away.

All he could think when the door closed again was, *Friends don't kiss--do they?*

***

Ashley paused outside Carlos's room, hearing the others within and not sure she could face them just yet. *What did I just do?*

Not only had she made a complete fool of herself, she'd been incredibly selfish. She'd wondered what it would be like to kiss Andros for quite a while now, but she'd never acted on it, knowing how uncomfortable their gestures of friendship had made him at first. Anything more, she'd figured, would scare him away for good.

*Then, he finally talks to me, and I go and do a stupid thing like that…* She sighed, more loudly than she'd intended.

"Hey, Ash?" Carlos called. "You out there?"

At that moment, she knew exactly how Andros felt when one or more of them came and dragged him away from his brooding to go do something fun. "Yeah," she answered, sighing again.

She stepped into the room, trying to put on a cheery face. Her three friends had abandoned their earlier positions and were now lounging about the room--all their attention now focused on her.

"Are you okay?" Cassie asked, her expression worried.

"Sure," Ashley answered, trying to shake of the gloomy fog that she felt had attached itself to her. "I'm fine."

"Where's Andros?" TJ wanted to know.

She looked away, shrugging. "I think he wants to be alone for a while."

She didn't see the knowing look Cassie shot in her direction, but she heard Carlos clear his throat. "Why don't we all go down to the Surf Spot for a while, see what's going on?"

Grateful as Ashley was for his intervention, she wasn't sure she felt like facing all those people. *But it would be a nice distraction…* "Sure," she agreed, glancing at Cassie, then TJ, who both nodded their agreement.

***

They teleported to a place directly behind the Surf Spot--an alley no one but cats frequented on a regular basis. It was deserted, but as soon as Cassie landed, she knew she was in trouble. She glanced at her wrist, just to make sure.

It was as bare as it had been seconds ago when she'd first realized something was wrong. Cassie had looked down at her communicator out of habit, even though Carlos had had DECA teleport the four of them down. The absence of her wristpiece had startled her, but it had been too late to abort the transport.

During her momentary preoccupation, the others had gotten ahead of her, and Cassie sighed to herself. She'd never hear the end of this.

"Guys," she called, hurrying to catch up. TJ slowed, and shot her an inquiring look. Even Carlos and Ashley stopped talking long enough to give her their full attention.

"You're not going to believe this," Cassie said, holding up her left wrist. "I left it--" she looked around as they emerged from the alley, and hastily edited the end of her sentence. "Behind," she finished awkwardly.

To her surprise, and immense gratification, no one laughed. "You'd better go back for it," TJ said, looking over his shoulder. "Here, take mine. We'll meet you inside in a few minutes."

He passed his communicator to her, and she nodded in understanding. Any of them could simply have called the Megaship and asked DECA to teleport her aboard--but it was early afternoon, and the youth of Angel Grove were swarming around the Surf Spot. Their alley would be safer, and much less conspicuous.

The others continued around to the front of the popular hangout, while Cassie darted back the way they'd come. Once out of sight of prying eyes, she activated the blue-banded communicator and disappeared in a sparkling shower of pink.

The Megaship was quiet, but not eerily so. Cassie was often up late, and she enjoyed the peace that blanketed the hallways when TJ's laughter fell silent and Ashley's cheery voice no longer echoed through the corridors. She loved her friends dearly, but sometimes all she wanted was to stare out at the stars in solitude and silence.

*They're truly beautiful,* she thought, glancing through a window as she passed by on her way to Carlos's room. *I know why he spends so much time out here…*

Cassie shook her head, trying not to dwell on thoughts of the ship she hoped to see at the Megaship's side someday soon. *Not now, anyway,* she thought, as Carlos's door slid open in front of her.

Her communicator, of course, was on the floor where she'd left it; she'd taken it off because she'd always hated wearing watches while giving backrubs. They jabbed into her skin and often scratched the person she was working on. Now, though, she was glad to have the familiar weight back on her wrist where it belonged.

Closing the clasp, she moved back toward the door, not feeling right about teleporting directly into or out of someone's room while they weren't there. The corridor greeted her, much the same as it had been moments before: bright, clean--and suddenly less empty.

*Does DECA tell him when we leave?* Cassie wondered, amused. *So he knows when he can haunt the hallways without having to worry about running into anyone?*

At the sound of the door opening, Andros looked up from the electronic datapad in his hand. He stopped when he saw her standing there, and she saw surprise, then chagrin, flash across his face.

"Hey, Andros," Cassie greeted him, hoping to alleviate the tension she could sense emanating from him. "The others are down at the Surf Spot; want to join us?"

He hesitated, obviously torn. The pause went on, and still he didn't react in any way.

Now concerned, Cassie tilted her head and frowned at him. "Are you all right?"

For another long moment, he didn't answer. Then, abruptly, he looked straight at her, and she was surprised by the distress in his eyes. "Cassie, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," she said, her curiosity growing. Andros had never asked permission to question her before.

His next question was even more of a surprise than the first: "If someone… kisses you, what does it mean?" 

Cassie blinked. "Well, I guess it depends whether it's a family member or a friend."

"Not a family member," Andros responded emphatically. 

"Well," Cassie continued, "on Earth, kissing is a sign of affection." Andros nodded; apparently KO-35 wasn't so different. 

Unfortunately, she wasn't sure how to word the rest of her reply. "If someone kissed me--someone who'd been my friend for a while--I guess I'd assume they were trying to tell me that they had feelings for me. Feelings stronger than friendship, I mean." 

Andros had a faraway look in his eyes, but she couldn't blame him. Her look was doubtless equally distant, for she too was thinking of someone else… *"Don't forget me, Cassie. I'll see you soon."*

Andros's voice broke into her reverie, and she startled. "Thanks, Cassie," he said, looking at the datapad in his hand, but not, she suspected, truly seeing it.

"No problem," she murmured, watching him walk away. Her gaze returned to the window and lingered on the stars a moment. Before she could get lost in the search again, she touched her communicator and returned to the planet below.

The sun had retreated behind the clouds when she rematerialized, but the crowd at the Surf Spot had not diminished in the slightest. Weaving through students who looked less familiar every time she returned, Cassie saw TJ and Carlos sharing fries at a table in the corner. She made her way over to them, realizing briefly how isolated she and her friends were becoming from their "peers" on Earth.

Carlos waved when he saw her coming, and she smiled in return, but her attention was elsewhere. She slid TJ's communicator into his hand, but her eyes were searching the crowded establishment. "Thanks, TJ--where's Ashley?"

A telltale flash of yellow caught her eye, and she squinted across the room. "She went to the--" Carlos began, then cut off as he too, spotted Ashley. "There she is. Hey, Ash!"

Ashley waved back, but as she approached the table, Cassie didn't give her time to sit down. "Ashley, I need to talk to you," she said firmly, grabbing her friend's arm and dragging her farther into the corner. "Excuse us, guys."

TJ and Carlos exchanged glances, shrugged, and returned to their fries. She was conscious of their silence, though, and knew they would do their best to overhear the ensuing conversation.

"What's going on?" Ashley whispered, puzzled but just as aware of the boys' keen hearing.

Cassie put her hands on her hips. "Ashley… did you kiss Andros?"

"What?" Ashley exclaimed, then clapped a hand over her mouth when she saw Carlos look in their direction. Lowering her hand, she asked more quietly, "How did you know?"

"I just saw him on the Megaship." Out of habit, she looked around to make sure no one was close enough to over hear the word. "He looked pretty confused."

"What did he say?" Ashley asked, nearly inaudibly. Before Cassie could answer, though, the brunette groaned. "I can't believe I did that! He'll probably never talk to me again--he'll just give me The Look."

"`The Look'?" Cassie repeated, diverted.

Ashley rolled her eyes. You must have noticed it. Remember back when we first met him, and he wouldn't listen to any of us? No matter what suggestions we offered, he'd just give us this disgusted Look and remind us we were *planetary* Rangers." She sighed. "He respects us more now, and it's been months since he gave any of you guys The Look. But I still get it, any time he thinks I've said something particularly stupid."

Cassie didn't answer right away. Now that she thought back, Ashley was right--Cassie did remember the expression Andros had had whenever he had gotten impatient or frustrated with them. Which, in the beginning, had happened approximately every five minutes. That look had become less and less frequent as time went on, and lately Andros had almost become tolerant of his fellow Rangers' antics.

"I think you're exaggerating a little," she said, but Ashley shook her head vigorously.

"I'm not!" Sighing, Ashley admitted, "I like him, Cassie, I really do, but I get the feeling he's just putting up with me."

"No one ever said Andros was good at expressing his feelings," Cassie muttered, indignant on her friend's behalf. "I bet he just doesn't know what to say to you."

"What did he say to *you*?" Ashley asked, bracing herself.

Cassie looked around uncomfortably, knowing nothing she said would placate Ashley at this point. "He wanted to know… what kissing means, on Earth."

Ashley didn't react as violently as she'd expected. Instead, she just stood there, a bewildered expression on her face. Finally, she asked, "Why didn't he just ask me?"

"I don't think he wants to look ignorant in front of you," Cassie said, remembering Andros's silence when they invited him to join their backrub line. "Andros does respect you, whether you know it or not, and your opinion obviously matters to him--probably more than the rest of ours."

Ashley sighed in frustration, then the meaning of Cassie's words seemed to sink in. "Are you saying you think he likes me?"

Cassie couldn't help but smile at the hopefulness on her friend's face. "Yeah," she said, nodding. "Yeah, I do."

Ashley returned the gesture with a brilliant smile of her own. *Andros's regard really does mean something to her,* Cassie realized. "Tell him how you feel, Ashley," she urged. "Maybe he's just waiting for you to say something."

Ashley's eyes widened. "I can't do that!"

Cassie raised her eyebrows. "Ashley, you *kissed*him! What did you expect him to think?"

"I don't know!" Ashley wailed. Suddenly, she glared past Cassie's shoulder, and Cassie turned to see Carlos and TJ watching them with interest.

Lowering her voice, Ashley continued, "I didn't mean to do it--I was just going to check on him, to make sure he was all right. But then he told me he wasn't used to people being so kind to him, and he looked so sad…"

She trailed off, and Cassie almost laughed at the dreamy look on her face. "You look just like Andros did, when I told him kissing was a way of showing affection."

Ashley's focus returned to the here and now, and she was opening her mouth to speak when their communicators went off. Frowning, she and Cassie looked at each other, then over at the boys, who were straightening and exchanging puzzled glances of their own. 

The morning's quantron encounter was on everyone's mind, and they shared a single thought: *so soon?*

Simultaneously, the four of them headed for the nearest exit, hoping to find a quieter place in which they could respond to the call from the Megaship. They were almost to the door when the quantrons came pouring through.

"Everybody back!" TJ yelled, disregarding his own command even as the other Rangers followed his example. They all knew his words weren't directed at them, but at the panicking teens still inside the establishment.

Over the shouts of astonishment and the scraping of chairs, Adelle's voice boomed, "Out this way! Move it, everyone!"

Adelle's drivers, Suzy and David, started herding people in the direction of the second exit. The Rangers were busying holding off the quantrons, and Cassie was grateful for the levelheaded Surf Spot staff. *If they get everyone out, we'll be able to morph,* she thought, ducking out of the way of one quantron and slamming an elbow strike into the chest of a second. 

A flash of red in her peripheral vision alerted her to Andros's arrival--he stood in the doorway in full Ranger uniform, gesturing at the staff and stragglers to hurry. Then Carlos's black blurred past her, obscuring her view and sending a nearby quantron sprawling on the floor.

Cassie fought on, barely pausing for breath until she registered Andros's presence in their midst. "Morph, guys!" The Red Ranger yelled, spinning his spiral sabre in a dizzying pattern that was somehow unslowed by its contact with multiple quantrons. "I'll keep them busy!"

Cassie wasn't sure Andros could take on all of the quantrons in this confined area, much less keep them away from the other Rangers, who would be defenseless for the few seconds it would take them to morph. Nonetheless, there was little choice, and the sooner she morphed, the sooner she would be back in the fight.

She ducked another swinging metal fist, backing toward the elevated level of the Surf Spot. Then Andros was there, harrying the quantrons away, and she found Carlos and TJ at her side. They exchanged glances, and at TJ's nod, the three of them extended their right hands and yelled, "Let's rocket!"

*Three?* Cassie thought suddenly, as the morpher appeared around her wrist. *Where's Ashley?*

Her eyes searched the room, as her hand found the catch on her astromorpher and flipped it open. There was Andros, his sabre locked with the spiked blade of a quantron--while another approached from behind, weapon raised.

Cassie opened her mouth to shout a warning, but a yellow streak knocked the second quantron to the ground before it could reach the Red Ranger. Unmorphed, Ashley had remained in the fight, watching Andros's back.

Cassie returned her attention to her morpher, punching in a sequence of numbers as familiar to her as her own name. She heard Andros shout at Ashley to get out of the fight, but she missed Ashley's reply as the surge of Power rushed through her, augmenting her strength and increasing her energy.

The Blue, Black, and Pink Rangers rejoined the battle, and Cassie worked her way to Ashley's side. "Ashley, go!" she told her friend, "I'll cover you!"

Ashley didn't need to be told twice. Cassie stood in front of her, staying on the defensive now rather than going after anything silver that moved, and in a matter of seconds, the Yellow Ranger was with her again. "Let's send these quantrons back where they belong!" Ashley shouted, over the noise of the fighting, and Cassie grinned, giving her a thumbs up before diving back into the fray.

It wasn't long before the five of them stood in the middle of an empty room, panting for breath. They looked around at each other, then, without a word, Andros walked to the door that Adelle had been evacuating people through and looked out. "They're gone," he reported.

Carlos shrugged. "Can you blame them? Half the time, Astronema sends down some monster with the quantrons, and it trashes the place. They probably didn't want to be caught in the crossfire."

Ashley nodded in agreement, and TJ sighed. "Let's get back to the ship."

Andros raised his left hand. "DECA. Five to teleport."

***

Back on the Megaship, the Rangers gathered on the Bridge while Andros played with the scanner controls. "Something's not right here," he muttered, pushing a few more touchpads.

"Yeah," TJ agreed, "it's not like Astronema to send down quantrons without a plan."

"And twice in one day," Cassie added.

Andros didn't respond to either comment, and Carlos watched him poke at the console. He hadn't missed the fact that Ashley was also watching Andros--or that Andros would sneak glances at her when he thought she wasn't looking. The whole situation would have been rather amusing, if the happiness of Carlos's best friend hadn't hinged on the outcome.

"I can't find indications of any kind of disturbance on Earth," Andros announced at last. "If Astronema sent a monster down, it's not showing up on the scanners."

"But the scanners have been searching for Zordon," Carlos pointed out, speaking for the first time since they'd returned. "They're set for maximum accuracy at interstellar distances, not the few hundred miles between us and the Earth's surface."

"They're still good enough to detect an attack," Andros told him.

"Not if it hasn't happened yet," Carlos said, an idea beginning to form. "What if Astronema's just distracting us, while she gets something in position? If there's a monster down there, but it's not expending any energy, we wouldn't be able to pick it up."

He saw Cassie and TJ exchange glances, probably unaware of that particular failing in the scanners. "That's true," Andros admitted reluctantly.

"I can recalibrate the scanners," Carlos offered. "Not all of them, just a couple, so we'll know if there's anything down there."

Andros nodded. "All right--use the forward scanners. I want to use the main scanner array to backtrack Astronema's course of the last few days; see if there are any clues about what she's up to."

Carlos nodded back, then turned to the auxillary scanner bank, set into the wall of the Bridge. "Is there anything we can do?" he heard Cassie ask.

There was silence for a moment--*maybe Andros gave her The Look,* Carlos thought, amused. Then Andros's voice said, "We'll let you know if we find anything."

After a minute, Carlos heard footsteps leaving the Bridge, but he was already too deeply involved in the scanning grid to pay much attention. Separating the controls for the forward array from the main scanners was no problem--usually the difficulty lay in getting more than one scanner array at a time to accept programming.

Once he had the forward scanners responding, Carlos typed in the recalibration command. The target prompt appeared, and he entered the Megaship itself as ground zero, and the Surf Spot as the target distance.

"Is that Dark Spectre's ship?" he heard Ashley ask suddenly. He looked up from the console, surprised. *I didn't think she was still here…*

"Yes," Andros answered, staring at the screen. Carlos, too, recognized the distinctive form of Dark Spectre's vessel, hanging ominously in front of them. He had to remind himself that it was a recorded scanner image, thousands of light years away and probably several days old by now.

Carlos glanced back down at the computer readout in front of him. "The scanners are recalibrated," he told Ashley and Andros. "They're still not picking up anything strange, though."

"Well, that's a good thing, I guess," Ashley said, looking uncertain.

"But we still don't know what Astronema's planning," Andros muttered, obviously frustrated.

"What about that visual of Dark Spectre's ship?" Carlos asked.

Andros shook his head. "She was near his ship about two days ago--that's all we know." In a move that surprised Carlos, Andros slammed his fist down on the console. "There has to be something we're missing!"

Ashley put a tentative hand on Andros's shoulder. "We're doing our best, Andros. Whatever she's up to--"

Carlos was standing across the room, but even he saw Andros give her The Look. Ashley broke off, dropping her hand. She glanced quickly at Carlos, who knew that expression--she was asking him to leave.

Curiosity warred with loyalty to his friend, and, as always, loyalty won out. "I'm going to go tell Cassie and TJ what we found," he said, edging toward the door.

Ashley flashed him a grateful smile, and a corner of his mouth lifted in response. Silently wishing her luck, Carlos left in search of the others.

***

"Andros?" Ashley tugged gently on his shoulder, trying to get him to turn. He let her push him, but he refused to meet her eyes. "What's wrong? 

"Nothing," he muttered, staring at the console.

"It's not Astronema," she said, studying his face. She didn't even bother to make her words a question--he didn't get this upset over Astronema's monsters, let alone a few quantrons.

"It _is_ Astronema," he insisted. "She could be up to something dangerous…" He trailed off, probably realizing how weak that sounded, and his eyes flicked up to hers for just a moment before looking away again.

She sighed, certain now what the problem was. "Look, Andros, I'm sorry about… this morning."

He looked up, startled enough that he met her gaze without self-consciousness. "I didn't really--*mean* to kiss you--it just sort of… happened," she continued uncomfortably. His sudden regard made her stumble more than ever, but she was determined to clear the air between them.

"I know, I shouldn't have done it," Ashley said, wondering what he was thinking behind those brown eyes. "I'm really, *really* sorry--"

"You… didn't mean it?" Andros asked slowly, his face still unreadable.

She sighed. "Well… I did… I like you, a lot, but you've seemed sort of distant--I thought you were upset."

He didn't say anything, and she sighed again. "See, I knew you were upset. I'm sorry, and I promise not to do it again--"

"Ashley," Andros said quietly. She spoke over him, knowing she was babbling but unable to stop. "Ashley, I'm not upset," he said, still speaking softly, almost as if he didn't want her to hear.

She paused for breath, and his words registered, warm and unexpected. "You're… not?"

He just shook his head.

"Well…" she didn't know what to say. He wasn't helping any, either--after a statement like that, didn't he owe her at least a little explanation?

They stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Then Andros lifted his hand, and she held her breath as he reached out and stroked her cheek, in a move eerily reminiscent of the one she'd used earlier in the day.

She found herself leaning closer to him, and he was doing the same… She closed her eyes, as their lips met for the second time that day. It was a gentle kiss, and over far too soon--but when she opened her eyes, he hadn't backed away. He was still standing close, and she smiled up at him.

"Ashley…" Andros trailed off, as though he didn't know how to continue.

She held her breath, hoping she'd understood what he meant when he said he wasn't upset. "Yes?"

"Thanks--for defending me, down there."

She had the feeling that wasn't what he'd started to say, but she just shrugged a little, still staring into his eyes. "I couldn't let you get hurt." That was true, but it wasn't what *she* wanted to say, either. "Andros?"

He made a questioning sound, and she took a deep breath. "Thanks for kissing me."

He glanced down, but she saw the smile when he looked back at her a second later. "I should thank *you*," he said softly, and she couldn't stop the delighted smile that spread across her face.

Then the alarm went off.

***

"Come on, Carlos," Cassie said, leaning across the table. "You can tell us."

TJ shook his head. "Man! I still can't believe it. Andros and Ashley?"

Carlos sighed. "There's nothing to tell. Andros was upset about something, and Ashley was trying to cheer him up."

"And you *left*?" Cassie exclaimed. 

TJ let them trade remarks, deeming it wiser not to interject any more incredulity into the conversation. Neither of Cassie nor Carlos seemed particularly surprised by the thought of their two friends getting together, but the idea had never occurred to TJ.

*Andros is so… reserved.* TJ couldn't picture the newest member of their team in a relationship. *And Ashley--I always thought she and Carlos would start going out. I suppose they've grown apart some since we left Earth… but Andros?*

Just then, the red emergency lighting flashed throughout the room, and the sound of the alarm rang through the hallways. Carlos stopped midsentence and looked around, as if he could see the attack from where he sat. 

Cassie's exasperated expression faded, to be replaced by one of irritation as she jumped to her feet. "Doesn't Astronema know when to give up?"

TJ was already out of his chair and halfway to the door. "DECA! What's happening?"

"Astronema has sent quantrons to Earth," the ship's onboard computer responded in an annoying monotone.

TJ rolled his eyes. *I'd guessed that much, * he thought sarcastically, but said nothing. To get DECA mad at you meant that you'd find wilted spinach on your breakfast plate instead of pancakes.

The three of them raced into the Glider holding bay, to find Andros and Ashley waiting impatiently for them. "Quantrons in the park," Andros informed them, as TJ vaulted over the railing to land on the deck in front of his jump tube.

Up and down the line, the five of them exchanged glances and looked to Andros. He nodded, and they thrust their right hands out before whirling to grasp the bar above their respective tubes.

Power surged through TJ, and blue light momentarily obscured his vision. Then the metal beneath him slid away as he landed, fully morphed, aboard his Galaxy Glider. Bending his knees, he leaned forward and launched into the tunnel of hyperspace through which the Gliders traveled.

Wide and uncluttered, the tunnel was nonetheless his least favorite part of gliding. He increased his speed, and burst out into the sun and warmth at the other end. The wind screamed in his ears, drowning out the hum of the other Gliders right behind him, even overpowering the noise of his own Glider--but he could still feel the vibration through his boots.

The exhilarating ride was over too soon. Leaping off into the grass below, he didn't have to turn to know that his Glider was gone almost instantly, already swallowed up by hyperspace on its return voyage to the Megaship. The others dismounted as well, Andros executing a casual flip as he did so, and TJ glanced toward Ashley. *Showing off?* he wondered.

But Ashley's gaze was on the dozens of quantrons that had beaten them to the park--anyone not at the Surf Spot had apparently come here, and the families situated throughout the formerly peaceful picnic area were slower to disperse than the teens at Adelle's restaurant.

Luckily, the arrival of the Power Rangers drew the quantrons' full attention, and the ensuing battle gave the civilians the time they needed to escape. TJ threw himself into the fight, knowing that he and his teammates were all that stood between Astronema's forces of evil and the inhabitants of his home planet. It occurred to him to wonder how different it must be for Andros, who wasn't in this to defend his home--more than any of the rest of them, the Red Ranger was fighting *against* Astronema, rather than *for* someone else.

A chokehold from one of the quantrons reminded TJ how dangerous it was to let his mind wander in combat. He stepped to the right and crouched lower to the ground, grabbing the metallic arm as he did so and dropping his shoulder to throw the offending quantron to the ground.

Another bowled into him from behind, and he went crashing through the remains of a festively decorated pavilion. He rolled to his feet, bringing his hands up to defend from the expected follow-up attack--but it didn't come. Carlos was there, twisting the quantron's arm behind its back and giving it a kick hard enough to send it stumbling away.

"Thanks!" TJ called to him, and the Black Ranger nodded. 

"Anytime--what's *he*doing here?"

TJ followed Carlos's nod, and, to his horror, saw a small boy crouched under one of the tables set up beneath the pavilion's canopy. "I'll take care of him," TJ promised, and Carlos nodded, throwing a roundhouse punch that knocked another quantron off its feet.

TJ turned his attention back to the child, grateful to Carlos for taking the heat off his back. "Are you all right?" he asked the boy, who nodded, wide-eyed.

TJ looked around, but right now, the pavilion was surrounded. There was no escape route that didn't involve numerous encounters with quantrons, so TJ turned back to the boy and held out his hand. "Will you come with me?"

The boy nodded again and scrambled out from his hiding place. TJ took his hand and pulled him over to the base of the tree that shaded the large tent. Scooping the child up, he set him on the lowest branch of the tree--hopefully, just above the quantrons' eye level. "Stay here, all right?" TJ told him, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was sneaking up on them.

"Yes, sir!" the boy said quickly, speaking for the first time.

TJ glanced back at him in surprise, then smiled, though both reactions were hidden from the child by his helmet. "We'll keep you safe," he assured the boy, who nodded vigorously.

TJ rejoined the fight, careful not to stray too far from the kid's tree. Carlos was still nearby, and he was probably the reason that TJ had been able to get the boy to a place of relative safety without being attacked once. Cassie soon worked her way over to them, and the three Rangers managed to keep a respectably large area around the tree clear.

Knocking one quantron into another, TJ didn't stop to watch them go down. Instead, he searched the park for Andros--Ashley would yell for help if she needed it, but Andros was too stubborn to admit when he was in trouble. He could have been knocked unconscious minutes ago, and TJ might not have even noticed.

A swirl of red confirmed that Andros was still on his feet, and the yellow that was Ashley wasn't far away. TJ saw the flash from her Star Slinger take down a quantron, and a sparkle of metal from the Andros whirlwind said that his Spiral Sabre had been drawn as well.

*And no wonder,* TJ thought, ducking a blow and catching the off-balance quantron with one of his own. *There's twice as many quantrons around those two as we have over here…* The quantron managed to evade his punch, but Cassie felled it with a chop to the neck, and he signaled to get her attention.

"Andros and Ashley are having trouble," he said, speaking loudly enough to be heard over the grating sound of moving metal joints and kiyahs.

Carlos wasn't so absorbed that he didn't hear TJ's comment, and, with a kick that sent another quantron to the ground, he turned in their direction. "Let's try to head our quantrons toward the others--the five of us should be able to take the ones that are left."

"Right," Cassie and TJ said, and they set the plan into motion. TJ didn't like leaving the boy undefended, but they managed to rejoin Andros and Ashley, making a line of defense that the quantrons couldn't breach.

"Thanks for the backup, guys," Ashley called, and TJ gave her a thumbs up.

"No problem," Carlos answered. "Hey, Andros--duck!"

Without question, the Red Ranger dove out of the way as Carlos's astroblaster cut through the air overhead. Sparks flew among the quantrons' ranks, and they must have decided the odds in their favor had fallen to an unacceptable low. They retreated across the grass, and the twin sparkles of Astronema's teleportation system erased them from view.

"Sometimes, I can almost hear them yelling 'Run away!'" Ashley muttered to no one in particular.

"What?" TJ heard Cassie ask, as he headed back toward the tree where he'd left the little boy.

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail," Ashley explained. "When King Arthur yells 'Attack!' and then the catapult starts firing, and he changes his mind and shouts 'Run away!' instead?"

TJ had never seen Monty Python, but Cassie started laughing. "Ashley, I'm going to think of that every time we beat them."

TJ found the boy right where he'd left him, and he reached up to help the child down. 

"Did you win?" the boy asked eagerly, and TJ looked up as the others quietly gathered around.

"Yes, we did," he said at last, when no one else seemed inclined to answer. *Except that we still don't know why the quantrons were attacking in the first place…*

"Wow!" the boy exclaimed. "This was the best birthday party ever!"

"Is it your birthday?" TJ asked, smiling at his enthusiasm.

The boy nodded. "I'm eight years old today!"

"Happy birthday," Cassie offered, and Ashley echoed her a moment later.

The boy swelled with pride. "Thanks. Wait till I tell everyone I met the Power Rangers! Can I have your autographs?"

He didn't wait for an answer. Pulling out a pen and a slightly crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, the boy looked up at them hopefully. TJ didn't know how to refuse, but they couldn't exactly sign their names for him… He looked over at Cassie, but she just shrugged.

To his surprise, it was Andros that answered. "Sure you can," he told the boy, and the kid beamed. Andros took the proffered writing utensil and paper and bent over one of the few still-standing tables to scribble something.

*Of course,* TJ thought wryly, *Andros doesn't have to worry about *his* name being recognized…*

Then Andros passed the paper to him. It was a birthday card--and the words 'Happy Birthday' had been inscribed over a fuzzy but recognizable picture of the Megaship. TJ smiled--and his smile widened when he saw how Andros had signed the card: *Red Ranger.*

*Simple, obvious--why didn't I think of that?* TJ wondered, accepting the pen. He wrote *Best wishes, Blue Ranger,* and passed the card to Ashley. They each signed, and the boy, whose name was Jeremy, according to the card, thanked all of them again.

"It was our pleasure," Carlos told him. "But you'd better get home now. You're mother must be very worried."

Ashley nodded. "I'll walk you home, if you like," she offered.

TJ hadn't thought Jeremy could get any more excited. "Would you, really?"

"Sure," she said, and TJ grinned. Jeremy would brag about this for weeks…

Ashley took Jeremy's hand, and the two of them moved slowly out of the park. TJ saw Jeremy look over his shoulder and wave just as he and the others teleported away.

_fin_


	2. Late Night

_Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Saban, Monty Python to someone else. The latter is incidental, but the former is sort of essential to the story, so just let me borrow them for now, okay?_

**

Late Night  
by Starhawk

**

"DECA, what time is it?"

Cassie looked up from her dinner to glance at Andros. That was the fifth time he'd asked since they sat down, and his food was practically untouched.

"It is exactly three minutes and thirty-two seconds since the last time you asked, Andros," DECA replied, and Cassie hid a smile. Everyone knew that the onboard computer was partial to Andros, but it sounded as though even DECA was becoming exasperated with him.

"Look, Andros," Carlos said, leaning across the table. "I'm sure Ashley's fine. Jeremy's parents probably can't stop thanking her long enough for her to get away."

"I know, I know," Andros muttered, poking at his food.

Cassie exchanged glances with TJ, who was sitting right across from her. He just shook his head, a half-smile on his face.

Andros's communicator beeped, and he pounced on it. "Ashley?"

"How'd you guess?" Ashley's voice replied. "Are the rest of the guys with you?"

Andros looked around, as though he'd forgotten their presence in the short amount of time it had taken him to say her name. "Yeah, they're right here."

"Great. Look, I'm sorry everyone, but when I took Jeremy home I realized how long it's been since I had dinner with my own parents. I'm at home right now, and I'll be back later this evening--I just didn't want you guys to worry."

Someone snickered, but when Cassie looked up, she couldn't tell whether it had been TJ or Carlos. "Have a good time, Ashley," she offered.

"Thanks," Ashley's voice answered. "See you later."

The faint hiss of the carrier wave indicated that she'd cut off the communication from her end. Andros did the same, but Cassie saw disappointment flash across his face before he could hide it. She wondered if there was anything she could say to cheer him up, but Carlos spoke first.

"I haven't seen my parents in days," he said ruefully. "They're probably wondering if I still exist."

"My uncle, too," TJ admitted, a trace of guilt on his normally cheerful face. "I wonder how many times he's had to cover for me to my parents--I haven't called them since last week."

Cassie didn't say comment--she didn't have that particular problem, after all. She'd been staying with Ashley's family ever since the day she was detoured into Angel Grove, and as far as her parents were concerned, she was still there. *I call them once a week,* she thought, somewhat bitterly. *That seems to be all they want.*

"Hey, Cass," TJ said, giving her a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

She shook her head once, trying to smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

He gave her that *I know you're lying* look, and she really did smile. "Just thinking about my parents, I guess," she said. It was nice of him to care.

"Yeah, have you heard from them recently?" Carlos asked, probably trying to cheer her up.

She shook her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Carlos and TJ exchange glances. "You know, Cassie," TJ began, "if you want to go down to the Hammonds', I bet they'd love to see you for dinner."

Cassie pushed her plate away. "Thanks, TJ, but they probably want some time alone." She stood up, putting her napkin and glass on her plate and picking the stack up. "I'm actually going to go to bed now… it's been a long day. G'nite, guys."

"Good night," TJ echoed, followed by Carlos, as she returned her dishes to the Synthetron.

She heard Andros belatedly add his own "good night" to theirs as she left, and she smiled to herself. Andros was worlds away right now. *I'd love to know what Ashley said to him this afternoon on the Bridge,* she mused.

Reaching her door, she paused to stare through the hallway window at the stars. *And I'd really love to know what you're thinking right now,* she thought to the single Ranger whom she knew was out there, searching as they did. *I feel lonely, and I'm not even alone. How much worse must it be for you?*

***

"I love you too, Mom." Ashley let her mother pull her into one more hug before stepping out into the night. "Good night!"

She smiled reassuringly at her family, gathered inside the front door, and descended the porch steps. Waving one last time, she touched her communicator and let the golden sparkles carry her away. 

*I love them,* Ashley thought as the Megaship reformed around her, *but they can be sort of--clingy.* She sighed, and made her way down the hall toward her room. *That's not very nice, but I'm too tired to care right now. All I want is to go to bed.*

Nonetheless, she hesitated outside Andros's door. She had hoped to talk to him this evening, since their earlier conversation on the Bridge had been interrupted, but her family dinner had stretched into dessert, and then someone had put a movie in the VCR…

Ashley sighed. *I knew I wouldn't be able to just go, eat, and leave. And I really don't spend enough time with them…* But with the memory of Andros's kiss still fresh in her mind, it had been hard to concentrate on anything else.

She wished she had the courage to knock on his door. *I'd just like to see him--just for a few minutes… 

*Get real, Ashley,* she scolded herself. *It's late; he's probably already asleep.*

Seconds after she'd resigned herself to practicality, the stillness of the hallway was shattered by the shriek of the automated alert system. DECA immediately turned it down to a volume more tolerable to sleep-fogged ears, but the damage had been done.

The door beside her burst open, and Ashley didn't have time to react before Andros plowed into her, a wild look in his hazel eyes. "Ashley!" he yelped, reaching out to steady her. "I'm sorry; I didn't see you--DECA, what's going on?"

Three more doors opened farther down the now fully illuminated hallway. Ashley heard the others' footsteps on the metal deck as DECA told them what everyone had already guessed: quantrons in Angel Grove. 

She was conscious, as DECA spoke, of Andros's hand still resting lightly on her shoulder. No one else said anything, though, and he didn't seem to notice--until he turned to look at the others and caught her eye. He dropped his hand instantly and looked away, but his duties as a Ranger overcame his embarrassment within seconds, and he faced them again.

"It's too dark to use the Gliders," Andros announced. He was still avoiding her gaze. "We'll teleport directly there."

Ashley looked around at the others, really seeing them for the first time since she'd returned. Carlos and TJ both wore their warm-up suits; they must have just returned to their rooms from the Simudeck when the alarm sounded. Cassie's hair was loose, and she had certainly been prepared for sleep--but her eyes were suspiciously unclouded, as though she hadn't quite made it to her bed yet. 

Andros's call of "Let's Rocket!" broke into her speculation, and she extended her right arm as the others did. She entered the morphing sequence on the keypad that appeared on her wrist, blinking as gold light enveloped her. The strength poured into her, and she was suddenly more alert, more aware of everything in the hallway. 

"Target coordinates confirmed," DECA's calm voice informed them. Ashley flipped her morpher open a second time, inputting DECA's linkup code. The coordinates were transferred, and she looked up in time to see everyone else doing the same.

They looked to Andros, who nodded. "Let's go!" Stretching both arms skyward, he crossed his wrists over his head and disappeared in a shimmer of scarlet. Seconds later, Ashley's vision was obscured by a curtain of gold that lifted to reveal moonlit sand and waves. 

The sight took her breath away, and would have been far more beautiful, even romantic, had she been viewing it under different circumstances. As it was, the deserted shoreline filled her with a dread she had not expected. The last time they'd been summoned to an empty beach, it had been to fight invisible pirahnatrons, and that was an experience she never, *ever* wanted to repeat. 

Andros glanced her way, and she realized she'd been shivering despite the warm night. She took a deep breath and tried to forget that particular memory, and the panic she had felt at their total lack of control over the situation. She gave Andros a quick nod, answering his unspoken question: *Are you all right?* 

"Where *are* they?" TJ demanded of no one in particular. His frustration gave Ashley something else to focus on, and she wondered briefly if he too was remembering that incident. 

"It's like Astronema is challenging us," Carlos remarked, staring down the beach. "I mean, there's nothing here for the quantrons to ruin, no people for them to harass, and as soon as we arrive, they go into hiding. What does she gain from this?" 

Andros raised his right arm to speak into his communicator. "Alpha--are the quantrons still on the beach?"

Alpha's voice, despite being robotic, managed to convey more sleepiness than any of the Rangers'. "Yes, Andros; they're not very far from your present location." A sound that might have been a mechanical yawn came from the communicator.

Ashley grinned, knowing no one would be able to see it behind her helmet. *Trust Alpha to--* Her thought broke off as she glanced along the shore. "Guys, the breakwater." 

Carlos understood instantly. "It's the only place that would give them any cover."

"Let's go," TJ called, already moving toward the rock jetty that cut through the velvet water to intersect with the path of the moon. Ashley took off after him with the others, trying to look in every direction at once. She hadn't completely shaken the feeling that an ambush could come from any direction, despite the fact they were surrounded by open space.

The group slowed as they reached the first scattering of rocks. Ashley peered nervously at every boulder they passed, but there were no quantrons to be seen. Winding among the salt-encrusted slabs, they reached the base of the great stone wall and paused. Andros, now in the lead, clambered a little way up to survey the area. 

Right behind him, Carlos turned to look back the way they'd come. For a moment, there was complete silence--until the slightest squeak of metal made Ashley whirl. Simultaneously, TJ shouted a warning at Andros, and the quantrons poured out from hiding places that had been augmented by the darkness.

Ashley struck without thinking at the swarm of metallic forms cascading out of the crevices between the rocks. Nonetheless, the unexpectedness of their attack gave them an advantage, and a blow from one of their jagged-edged saws drove her to the ground. TJ sprawled across the sand beside her--his shout had alerted Andros, but also served to draw the quantrons' focus. 

She heard a thump from her other side, and the glitter of reflected starlight in a visor above an almost completely black uniform told her that Carlos had just landed next to her. A swift uppercut sent her attacker tumbling backwards to land heavily among the rocks, and a white-gloved hand grabbed hers and hauled her to her feet. 

"Thanks," she gasped, only realizing as she attempted to speak that her breath had been knocked out of her. 

"No problem," Carlos answered, taking a quantron's arm with both hands and twisting it to what, in a human, would be an unnatural angle. One kick sent it crashing into another that had been coming straight for Ashley.

She straightened, still struggling to breath, and saw TJ scramble out of the way of Carlos's domino effect. "Watch where you're throwing those things!" TJ yelled good-naturedly, rolling to his feet while Cassie watched his back.

Ashley was backed up against a waist-high boulder, recovering while Carlos kept the quantrons off her. Engrossed as she had been in the scene before her, the hand on her shoulder startled her and she reacted instinctively, reaching back to take firm hold of the arm. She knew something was wrong even as she set her stance and hauled the attacker forward over her shoulder, but what exactly that was didn't register until she saw the blur of red in her peripheral vision. 

"Andros!" she exclaimed, staring at him in shock. 

"Cassie, behind you!" Carlos yelled. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw TJ swing the Pink Ranger out of harm's way, and heard Cassie's kiyah as her foot connected solidly with a quantron's chest. But Ashley's attention remained focused on Andros. 

"That's the last time I sneak up on you," Andros muttered, climbing to his feet. 

Before she could formulate an apology, Carlos's fist streaked past to hit a quantron in the jaw. Seeing the metal being stagger, Ashley dropped to the ground and swept its legs out from under it. She rolled away as it fell, and, springing to her feet once more, she found Andros at her side. 

"I'm really sorry," she managed to say, ducking a blow from another saw. As the weapon swung past, she grabbed it and twisted it downward. Not intelligent enough to let go of the blade, the quantron followed. 

Andros let loose a spinning kick that drove a quantron into towering boulders of the breakwater, then, in the momentary lull that followed, turned back to her. "It's okay," he said, in answer to her apology. "Just--be careful, Ash." 

She knew he couldn't see her smile, so she settled for a quick nod. "You too," Ashley said, touching his shoulder briefly before the battle engulfed them once more. 

Very little of the whirlwind fight that followed stuck in her mind the way that simple caution from Andros would. *He cares,* she thought happily, diving out of the way of a quantron's inelegant but effective downswing. Coming to her feet as quickly as she'd gone down, she felt Carlos's arm link through hers in a move she knew well--she threw herself sideways, rolling across his back to land a two-footed kick on the quantron's chest. 

Before long, the remaining quantrons were scrambling away from them across the rocks. Not for the first time, Ashley thought that Astronema's teleportation system couldn't be very accurate--her quantrons had to disengage and put a certain amount of distance between themselves and their opponents before they could be teleported out. 

"Run away," she heard Cassie murmur, and Ashley grinned. 

Looking around, she counted heads, just to make sure. Cassie, of course, was staring after the quantrons. TJ stood near her, shaking his head in bemusement, while Carlos leaned against one of the boulders littering the sand at the base of the breakwater. And Andros-- 

Andros stood a little distance apart from the others, fists clenched at his sides. He seemed to be looking out across the ocean, but it was hard to tell. Ashley hesitated, glancing at the others once more, but it really was a beautiful night, and no one seemed in a particular hurry to return to the Megaship. 

Taking a deep breath, she crossed her wrists and flung them out to the side. "Power down," Ashley announced quietly, as her Ranger uniform disappeared in a flash of yellow. 

She drew in another long breath, reveling in the smell of unfiltered ocean air. A breeze darted through the semi-darkness to ruffle her hair, and the nearly full moon glimmered on the water. Ashley saw Carlos and TJ exchange glances, and then they too demorphed. Cassie followed their lead a moment later, but Andros remained frozen in position. 

Folding her arms to keep off the chill that was all too noticeable through her lightweight clothing, Ashley moved forward to join him. "Andros?" she asked softly, not wanting to startle him. "What are you thinking about?" 

His helmet turned toward her for an instant, and she wondered if he had just given her The Look. Good or bad, she wished she could see his expression, and Ashley mentally willed him to demorph. 

He didn't, but he did, at last, speak. "Astronema," Andros said in a low voice. "I've lost almost everything I cared about in my life--my home, my family, my sister…" He looked down at the sand. "I don't want her to take you away from me, too." 

She wasn't sure if he meant her, specifically, or the Rangers in general. "It'll take more than a few quantrons to finish us off," Ashley assured him. 

His head turned in her direction again, and stayed facing her longer. Finally, the red uniform brightened, sparkling briefly before it faded out of existence altogether. It warmed her heart to see the expression of unguarded affection that lingered on his face before he looked away again. 

"Andros…" Ashley put a hand on his arm, but before she could continue, TJ interrupted from behind them. 

"Hey, guys? We're going to head back to the Megaship…" He trailed off, obviously at a loss for how to finish his sentence. 

Cassie solved the problem. "Take your time," she said, mischief in her voice. 

The three of them teleported out before Ashley could find a suitable reply. She glanced at Andros, wondering if he was upset. *The whole reason I didn't say anything to him over my communicator this evening was that I didn't want to embarrass him, and Cassie manages to undermine that effort in a matter of seconds…* 

She found Andros sneaking a glance at her even as she looked over at him. He quickly averted his gaze, and Ashley couldn't help smiling. *He's worried that I'll be embarrassed!* 

As it had this morning and on several other occasions, his uncertainty gave her confidence. *After all, if we were both as shy as he is, nothing would ever happen…* 

"C'mon," Ashley suggested impulsively. "Let's go for a walk." 

She linked her arm through his and gave a gentle tug. He followed willingly enough, falling into step beside her. Neither of them spoke for quite a while, but it didn't bother Ashley. She didn't feel pressed to make conversation, or indeed do anything except enjoy the moonlit beach and Andros's presence at her side. 

She did start shivering, though, as the breeze picked up--her shorts and T-shirt were fine for a hazy August afternoon, but they didn't offer much protection against the cooler seashore air of night. She moved a little closer to Andros, who noticed her trembling. "Are you cold?" he asked, concern evident in his voice. "We can go back to the ship." 

"A little," Ashley admitted, looking up at him. His brown eyes met her hazel ones, and she had to remind herself to keep breathing. "But I don't want to go back to the ship yet." 

"Here," Andros said, shrugging out of the warm-up sweatshirt he'd been wearing all day. It seemed to be his way of compromising between the Megaship uniform and the rest of the Rangers' civilian clothes. "Put this on." 

Ashley let him drape the sweatshirt over her shoulders, and had to admit, as she pushed her hands through the sleeves, that it was warm. She shivered again, feeling the residual heat from Andros's body in the fuzzy red fabric. "Thank you," she said, drawing the sweatshirt tight around her. 

She looked up to find him gazing down at her, and for some reason, she blushed at his open regard. She wanted to speak, but had no idea what to say. He looked away, and the moment was lost. 

She turned to keep walking the way they been going, her feelings by now so confused that she wasn't sure whether she should feel disappointed or relieved. *Am I reading this completely wrong?* she wondered. *Is he just trying to find a way to tell me that I don't really matter to him--at least, no more than any of the other Rangers?* 

Andros had been a mystery to her since the beginning. Most people she could get a feel for just by meeting them: cheery or sad, slow or clever, whether they wanted a new friend or would rather be left alone. Andros had given off all of those signals at once, and she still didn't know how to interpret some of the things he said. 

He shadowed her movement, closely enough that their hands brushed. Ashley could almost feel the butterflies in her stomach as she reached out for his fingers, entwining them in her own. Andros didn't resist, and though she kept her gaze straight ahead, she smiled a little into the dimness. 

"Ashley?" Andros's voice broke the silence a few minutes later. "Did I do something wrong?" 

Ashley scuffed her toes in the sand, realizing as she did so that it was the third or fourth time in the last five minutes. "No," she replied automatically, looking up at him. The bewildered expression on his face made her pause, and reconsider her mechanical reply. 

"I'm sorry," she sighed, giving him an apologetic smile. "I guess I was just wondering…" She searched his expression, wondering how to ask. "What were you thinking about?" 

*Oh, that was good, Ashley,* she thought to herself, but Andros spoke before she could revise her question. "I was thinking what a beautiful world you have," he told her. "How free and alive it seems…" Andros hesitated, then added tentatively, "And how it reminds me so much of you." 

Ashley stared at him for a moment in amazement. Then her delight spilled over, uncontainable, and she threw her arms around him. "Thank you," she whispered. "I think that's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." 

And it was infinitely more special because she knew he wouldn't say something he didn't truly believe. "Thank you, Andros," she repeated, feeling his arms close slowly around her. Half of her wanted to dance around the beach, but the other, more persuasive half, wanted to stay here in Andros's embrace for the rest of the night… 

***

Carlos couldn't sleep. He didn't like leaving two of his friends undefended so soon after yet another of Astronema's random hit and run attacks. Especially Andros, who had demonstrated often enough his propensity for getting into trouble when left on his own. 

*Ashley will take care of him,* he reminded himself, but found himself no closer to the realm of dreams than he had been before. 

"DECA?" he asked suddenly. *I could be worrying for no reason…* "Have Ashley and Andros returned to the Megaship?" 

"Not yet, Carlos," DECA answered, the red light of her camera flashing as it became active. 

He sighed and rolled out of bed, giving up on sleep for the moment. Grabbing his jacket, he wandered out into the hallway, reflecting wryly on how used to sleeping in his uniform he'd become. But, as tonight proved, one never knew when the next crisis would strike. 

Carlos headed for the Glider holding bay, more to have a destination rather than out of any real desire to go there. As he stepped into the room, though, he saw TJ sitting at the table, an electronic datapad on the table in front of him and a mug in his hand. The Blue Ranger looked up as Carlos walked in. 

"Hey," Carlos greeted him, shooting an inquiring look at the datapad. "What are you doing?" 

TJ shrugged. "Just busywork, really. Couldn't sleep." 

"You and me both," Carlos agreed, idly poking at the Synthetron's control panel. The machine produced the requested mug of cocoa, and he joined TJ at the table. 

Frowning at his mug, Carlos nudged a seat far enough back from the table that he could sit down comfortably. "Why does the Synthetron make steaming cocoa?" he asked rhetorically. "No one can drink it until it cools off anyway." 

TJ grinned, the way he always did right before he said something particularly ridiculous. In a conspiratorial stage-whisper, making a show of looking over his should, he said, "It's all part of DECA's plan to get us off the Megaship." 

"What?" Cassie's amused voice exclaimed from the doorway. 

Carlos looked up and waved. "Hey, Cassie. Don't tell me you can't sleep, either." 

She shrugged, making no move to enter the room. Out of the corner of his eye, Carlos saw the glow of DECA's red light as her camera came on, but no reply to TJ's comment was forthcoming. 

"Do I smell hot chocolate?" Cassie asked suddenly, peering over at their mugs. 

"Yeah--the hottest hot chocolate you'll ever taste," TJ quipped, raising his mug in her direction. 

Cassie smiled. "Well, I guess I'll have to see for myself," she said, uncrossing her arms and going to the Synthetron. "Ashley and Andros still aren't back?" she asked over her shoulder. 

Carlos shook his head, then thought better of his assumption. "DECA, are Ashley and Andros back on the Megaship yet?" 

"Yes, Carlos," DECA replied, and he could have sworn he detected a smug note in her voice. "They returned several minutes ago." 

Cassie took a cautious sip of her cocoa. "Mine's not too hot," she remarked. 

TJ shot her an incredulous look. "Favoritism," he complained, glaring at DECA. 

"I am not programmed to show favoritism," DECA said calmly. Carlos wondered suddenly what TJ thought he was having for breakfast in the morning. 

Cassie smiled. "Thanks, DECA." 

"You're welcome, Cassie." 

"Hey!" TJ exclaimed. "What happened to 'I'm not programmed to show favoritism'?" 

"I am not programmed to show favoritism," DECA repeated, then continued, "to you, TJ." 

"What?" TJ yelped. 

Glancing at Cassie, something occurred to Carlos. "DECA, who programmed you?" 

There was a brief pause. "That information is classified," DECA answered finally. 

*I bet it is,* Carlos thought, an amused smile on his face. *Just how well do Andros and Phantom know each other, anyway?* 

"I knew it!" TJ pointed a finger at DECA's camera. "You program yourself, don't you?" 

Cassie laughed. "Drink your hot chocolate, TJ." 

"I can't; it's too hot!" 

Cassie reached over and touched the outside of his mug. "Actually, I think it's cold now." 

TJ sighed. "See what I mean? I can't win…" 

***

Andros stared at the bottom of the bunk above him, too restless to sleep and too tired not to. *Everyone else is asleep,* he thought. *Why can't I join them?* 

Of course, he knew why. Ashley haunted his thoughts, and he suspected she would be in his dreams, as well--if he ever managed to sleep. 

Logically, he knew that if Astronema were to keep up her frequent and seemingly random attacks, he would need all the sleep he could get. But logic hadn't kept him from walking down the beach with Ashley until they were both numb with cold, and it didn't now keep his pulse from racing when he remembered her smile. 

There came a knock on his door, so soft he thought he had imagined it, until it repeated. *Ashley?* he wondered. Throwing off his lightweight blanket, Andros got up and padded over to the door. 

Sure enough, there was Ashley, standing in the hall with his sweatshirt still wrapped around her shoulders. She'd brushed the tangles out of her hair, but her cheeks were still glowing from the brisk sea breeze. "Hi," she whispered, somewhat sheepishly. 

Andros blinked, abruptly realizing he'd been staring at her. "Come in," he offered quietly, stepping away from the door. 

She did, and the door closed behind her, shrouding the room in a darkness that seemed less pervasive, somehow, now that she was here. Tapping the control panel by the door brought the lights up to half-strength, and he turned his full attention back to Ashley. 

"I, um…" She squirmed under his gaze. "I forgot to give you back your sweatshirt." 

"You didn't have to bring it back tonight," Andros assured her, though his heart was glad to see her again, no matter the reason. 

She shrugged, making no move to take off the sweatshirt. "I couldn't sleep." Then, nervously, Ashley glanced up at him. "I didn't wake you, did I?" 

He shook his head, unable to keep from smiling any longer. "I couldn't sleep, either." 

They stood there, staring at each other, for what seemed like several minutes. Finally, Ashley said awkwardly, "I should probably go…" 

"Ashley--" A question that had been bothering his subconscious all afternoon suddenly became clear enough in his mind to voice--and it had the happy side effect of detaining Ashley for a few minutes longer. "What's Monty Python?" 

She just looked at him for a minute, apparently considering the question. "DECA?" she asked at last. "You can receive video transmissions from the satellites in orbit around Earth, right?" 

"Of course, Ashley," DECA replied, sounding almost offended. 

"Can you scan the TV satellites--the ones that are emitting a continuous stream of wide-beam video transmission--for a specific reference? Say, 'Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail'?" 

In answer, the computer monitor in Andros's room came to life, and images began flashing across the screen. "Forty-two references to the phrase 'Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail' were found," DECA reported. 

Ashley stared intently at the monitor while Andros watched, bemused. "There," she exclaimed suddenly. "Go back a couple of frames, DECA." 

The onboard computer system obliged wordlessly, slowing down and backtracking through the images. "Stop," Ashley said. "There--can you let us watch that one as it plays?" 

"I can intercept radio transmissions over a distance of hundreds of light years," DECA informed her, a reproving note in her usually toneless voice. "There is no difficulty in displaying a transmission that originates only a few kilometers away." 

The sound came on suddenly, and Andros watched strange people in stranger armor run about an obviously fake landscape. "This is Monty Python?" he asked, confused as to its appeal. 

Ashley nodded. "It's a spoof of the legend of King Arthur." She paused, looking away from the monitor toward him. "Have you heard of King Arthur?" 

Andros shook his head. Ashley didn't say anything for a moment, just reached up to put her hands on her shoulders. "Well," she said, "I guess I can't really explain it. I think if you watch the movie, though, you can sort of follow along." 

He glanced over at the screen, but saw little point in devoting his attention to it when a far more worthwhile vision was standing right in front of him. Taking a deep breath, Andros asked shyly, "Will you stay? And explain it to me?" 

Ashley flashed him a brilliant smile. "I'd love to." Rubbing her shoulders, she added, "But only if we sit down. I'm sore enough from fighting; I don't need to add aching feet on top of that." 

He smiled back, wishing he dared offer her a backrub, in return for the one she'd given him this morning. But he'd been bold enough for one evening; he wouldn't risk rejection now. Instead, he gestured toward his bunk, and she seated herself on the floor in front of it, back against the metal sideboard. 

Andros joined her, sitting close enough to be companionable, but not quite close enough to touch. On the monitor, the group of strangely-clad people were standing at a bridge off which an alarming number of them were being thrown. He had no idea what was going on, but for once, it didn't bother him. All that mattered was that Ashley was there with him. 

*Was it really only this morning that she kissed me?* he found himself wondering. *This morning that I was thinking she was nothing more than a friend?* 

He still shied away from the word "love" or even "crush", but he was willing to admit that he'd been denying feelings for Ashley for a long time. She *was* more than a friend--but what that meant, whether or not she returned those feelings, and what they would do about it if she did… That all seemed unimportant and somehow distant right now. 

He glanced over at her profile, remembering what she'd said to him this morning. *Just relax--stop thinking about the things that could happen, and concentrate on what is happening now.* 

Steeling himself, Andros drew in a breath and opened his mouth. It took several more tries before he found the courage and the words to ask, but finally he said, "You said you were sore--would you… would you like a backrub?" 

Ashley turned to look at him, eyes sparkling in the dim lighting. He held his breath, but she smiled as soon as she caught his eye. "That would be *heavenly*; thank you." 

She scooted across the floor to sit in front of him, drawing one knee up to her chest as she did so. "Can you still see?" she asked over her shoulder, and it took him a minute to realize she was referring to the monitor, where the movie was still playing. 

"Yes," Andros told her, touching the spill of hair across her back with cautious fingers. He half-expected her to protest this invasion of privacy, even if she had agreed to it, but she said nothing. 

He pushed her silky soft hair forward over her shoulders, mimicking her own actions when she had done this for him. He rubbed her back and shoulders, gently at first, remembering the discomfort she had caused him at first. But Ashley was more relaxed now than he had been even after her ministrations, and he surmised that that made a difference. 

Andros imitated the backrub she had given him to the best of his ability, and presently, he heard her yawn. "You're a natural, Andros," she murmured sleepily. "I don't think I can stay awake much longer." 

*She should just go back to her room,* the reasonable part of Andros's mind said. *She can finally sleep and be well rested in the morning.* 

But something within him rebelled. He hadn't enjoyed another person's company this much for longer than he could remember, and he was reluctant to let it go. "You can lie down on my bunk, if you want to," Andros offered. "You can still watch the movie from there." 

"I'll fall asleep," Ashley protested. 

"I think you're going to fall asleep anyway," he told her gently. "You should at least be comfortable." 

She twisted around to look at him. Seeing that he was serious, she tilted her head and smiled irresistibly at him. "You're so sweet, Andros." 

He felt his lips curve upward in response to her heart-melting expression, but he didn't know how to reply to that. Ashley didn't wait for an answer, though, just crawled onto his bunk and curled up. At eye level with her from his vantage point on the floor, Andros watched her until her eyes drifted shut. 

Smiling to himself, he got up and turned off the monitor. "Thanks, DECA," he whispered, and her camera blinked once at him. 

Andros pulled his blanket over Ashley, then climbed as quietly as he could into the top bunk. He couldn't resist looking down at her once more before DECA turned the lights down and he rolled over, staring into darkness. 

*I'm not alone,* he thought, as drowsiness overtook him and sleep waited just around the corner. It was a good feeling. 

***

*The sun shone out of a cloudless sky, and the smell of freshly cut grass filled the air. The wind caught the puffs of dust kicked up by his shoes as he stepped up to bat and hurried them away --* 

"Time to wake up, TJ," a monotone that was *not* the announcer called, and the sun brightened to completely obscure the baseball diamond. 

TJ opened his eyes a crack, squinting into the lights DECA insisted on turning on as soon as she woke them up. "Come on, DECA," TJ groaned. "We were up all night fighting quantrons; don't we get a break?" 

"You have slept an hour later than usual," DECA told him, as though that was somehow adequate. 

"I don't believe this," TJ muttered, making no move to get up. "'How I Spent My Summer Vacation' by TJ Carter: every morning at seven a.m., I was woken up by a computer with an attitude--" 

"It is eight a.m.," DECA corrected him. "Time to get up, TJ." 

"I know!" he exclaimed. "Stop that; I'm up already!" 

Suiting actions to words, he sat up, ducking to avoid the low upper bunk. His blanket was on the floor, as usual, and he grabbed it and tossed it over his shoulder onto the bunk. 

"Please fold your blanket, TJ," DECA requested, and he looked up at the camera in surprise. 

"What is with you today?" TJ inquired, only half-joking. "I'll fold it later, all right? Now go away; I want to change." 

The camera light obediently blinked out, and TJ shook his head. *That is a computer with too much time on its hands,* he thought, pulling on a fresh blue shirt, feeling some of his annoyance drain out of him as he did so. 

From indigo to aquamarine, stormy seas to the color of a clear sky, this new color of his made him smile. Truth be told, although he had led the Rangers into battle countless times as their leader, he preferred his more relaxed role as morale booster for the team. 

Shrugging into his jacket, TJ began to whistle as he walked down the hallway to the Glider holding bay. *Why the Synthetron is in the holding bay, I will never know,* he thought, grinning to himself. *Was there a tradition once that space villains only attacked at mealtimes, or what?* 

Cassie and Carlos were already there, and both called hello as he arrived. TJ waved, and headed over to the Synthetron. He called up his usual breakfast of pancakes, grabbed his plate, and was halfway to the table before he noticed something was wrong. 

"Very funny, DECA," TJ said, exasperated all over again. 

Carlos and Cassie both looked up at his tone, and Cassie smothered a laugh. Heaped on his plate was a pile of spinach, and it was none too fresh, either, from the looks of it. 

Ashley bounced into the room, looking exceptionally cheery for someone who had been up until midnight battling quantrons. "Hi, everyone!" 

"Well, you're in a good mood," Cassie remarked, smiling at her friend. 

"That's right," Ashley replied, grinning back but not offering any explanation. Catching sight of TJ's plate, she stopped mid-bounce. 

"TJ, *what* are you eating?" 

"Or not eating, as the case may be," Carlos put in. 

"DECA, come on," TJ appealed. "I have to eat. You wouldn't want my strength to give out in the middle of a fight, now, would you?" 

"Yeah, someone else could get hurt," Cassie put in, and he shot her a withering look. 

"Thanks for helping me out here, Cassie." 

She grinned. "No problem." 

"Mine's fine," Ashley commented, coming over to the table with a plate full of bacon and eggs. She took a deep breath. "Mmm… smells good." 

TJ gave DECA's camera a reproving look, then returned to the Synthetron to try his luck a second time. Over his shoulder, he heard Cassie say, "But I thought you didn't like the Synthetron's bacon and eggs." 

"I changed my mind," Ashley replied cheerfully. "They're not so bad, once you get used to them." 

TJ punched a few buttons, and this time, to his intense relief, a plate of perfectly edible pancakes emerged. "*Thank* you," he said to DECA, turning back to the table. 

Carlos was looking around as TJ sat down. "Has anyone seen Andros this morning?" 

"He's still sleeping," Ashley told them, around a mouthful of bacon. 

TJ saw Carlos and Cassie exchange glances, but in his indignation, he missed the significance of Ashley's comment. "He's still asleep?!" Casting yet another look at DECA's camera interface, TJ grumbled, "Sure, *Andros* gets to sleep late…" 

"How do *you* know he's still sleeping?" Cassie interrupted, cutting TJ's monologue short. 

TJ raised his eyebrows at that, looking first at Cassie, then at Ashley. Carlos, too, stopped eating to catch her reply. But no matter what one could infer from her assertion, Ashley was the epitome of composure as she looked up. Meeting Cassie's gaze, she shrugged. "Well, he's not here, is he?" 

Cassie's suspicious look waned, though it didn't disappear altogether. "We'll let it go this time, Ash," she said, and the knowing expression she shot at Ashley was so ridiculous they both burst into giggles. 

TJ just shook his head and picked up his fork. "Man, am I ready for some pancakes," he declared, not speaking to anyone in particular. 

A whooping siren cut through the holding bay, and DECA's camera flashed at them. "Astronema has sent quantrons to the warehouse district of Angel Grove," the computer announced. 

"Well, that's original," Cassie commented dryly. 

*I must have jinxed us with that speculation about eating in the holding bay,* TJ thought, grabbing one of his pancakes and polishing off the entire thing in less than half a minute. 

Taking a second pancake with him up the stairs, TJ managed to swallow the first and start on the second before Andros ran in. The Red Ranger nodded to all of them, and TJ shoved the rest of the pancake into his mouth as Andros leaped up the stairs. Barely taking the time to turn his back to his Glider tube, Andros shot a quick look to his right before extending his arm and whirling with the rest of them to leap into the tubes.

_fin_


	3. Old Friends

_Disclaimer: Saban owns Power Rangers; I just like to speculate about what goes on behind the scenes. Thanks to my soon-to-be purple belt sister for her help with the fight scenes :)_

**Old Friends  
by Starhawk**

Cassie leaned forward, accelerating out of the holding bay and into the vast expanse of hyperspace. *These tunnels could take you anywhere,* she thought, luxuriating in the feeling of speed and freedom. Infinity coalesced into her eventual destination, however, and the sky's blue horizon suddenly arched overhead as light returned to normal. 

As the warehouse district wavered into view, she drew back in shock and her Glider came to an abrupt halt. Quantrons lined the streets, peering from behind dumpsters and loitering in front of buildings. The longer she looked, the more she saw--and clearly, these soldiers had been waiting for them. A far cry from last night's skirmish, this could not be intended as anything but an all-out assault. 

*Are we going to be able to handle this?* Cassie wondered, leaping off her Glider as quantrons rushed toward them. 

The first blows were easy to duck, but as the number of simultaneous attacks increased, Cassie had to start blocking and striking back. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw four Gliders streak into the safety of hyperspace. Before her conscious mind could formulate the question, a red blur plowed headlong through the sea of metallic forms, astroblaster firing repeatedly. 

Andros had not abandoned his Glider yet, and was using the advantage of speed and lift that the transport gave him to take out their groundbound enemies. The rest of the Rangers, unfortunately, lacked the necessary experience to make their Gliders anything but a liability in battle. 

Cassie fell into her own pattern of attack, defend, retreat and attack again. Before long, though, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up on her own, and she started looking around for the others. 

As though that had been a cue, TJ hurtled past, head low and shoulders braced against a quantrons chest. The quantron stumbled and went down, and TJ followed, somersaulting across its prone form and coming to his feet with surprising grace. 

"Want a hand?" he yelled to her, already grappling with another quantron. 

Cassie set her feet and drove her elbow into a quantron's throat. "Thanks," she answered, spinning out of the way of its fall. She hit TJ's adversary with blade kick to the back of the knee, and watched in satisfaction as it tumbled to the ground. 

TJ leaped over the quantron to tangle with another of its fellows, nodding at her as he passed. "Thank *you*," he said, a grin evident in his voice. 

She nodded back, and the two of them fought side by side for a time. Several minutes passed before Cassie had the chance to look up again. She scanned the tumult quickly, looking for flashes of color amid the swirling silver. 

Ashley was the first to catch her eye; a streak of yellow dancing in a deadly whirlwind farther down the street. Closer to Cassie and TJ, Carlos was also holding his own against the hordes of soldiers--barely. 

"Carlos could use some backup!" Even as she shouted to her partner, twin lines of light found their mark among the Black Ranger's attackers, and the red Galaxy Glider shot past overhead. 

A front snap kick knocked a quantron away from her, and the whine of Andros's astroblaster cut through the noise of the fight once more. Glancing back down the street, she saw Carlos toss off a salute after the Glider as it hummed away to check on Ashley. 

Whirling past her, TJ summoned his Astro Axe and took out two quantrons in one blow. "We're stronger together than alone," he called, and she nodded, fighting her way toward Carlos in TJ's wake. 

Carlos didn't even slow down as they flanked him--he couldn't. None of them could. They were simply too outnumbered to do more than strike and withdraw and strike again, watching each other's backs and hoping somehow they could keep this up for as long as it took. 

*Where are all of these quantrons coming from?* Cassie asked herself for the fifth time. Something occurred to her, but she couldn't stop to think long enough to figure out what it was. 

Carlos threw a punch that somehow missed its target in the melee, and the overextension left him vulnerable. Cassie twisted the arm of another and threw it to the ground before it could reach the Black Ranger, and Carlos rebalanced within seconds. 

"Where's Ashley?" Carlos asked over his shoulder, fending off a quantron by the simple expedient of stepping out of its way. The speed at which it had come for him was not easily redirected, and the being stumbled several feet past its intended target. 

Busy with her attacker, Cassie didn't answer right away. Then the quantron Carlos had sidestepped decided to go after her as well, and she found herself being forced away from her friends. 

*This is not good,* she thought, ducking a blow and returning one of her own. It didn't have the force she'd intended, though, since she'd thrown it as she was recovering from her dodge, and the quantron was unfazed. 

Falling back again, Cassie found herself completely on the defensive. Forcing panic out of her reactions, she let her training take over and block out all other thought. She allowed one of the quantrons past her guard, then grabbed the fist that came at her face, spinning out of the way and pulling the arm with her. 

The quantron stumbled a little as it followed, and she forced its arm down toward the ground. Suddenly off-balance, the quantron was unprepared for her to reverse her motion, and an almost casual push knocked it flat on its back. 

The maneuver had had the happy side effect of forcing the second quantron to give her some breathing room. Now, though, it came at her full force, and she centered herself, ready to throw it if necessary. 

It wasn't. TJ's Axe came out of nowhere, striking sparks across the metal armor and causing the quantron to swerve. Then, before either of them could follow up, a tremendous roar swallowed up the sounds of battle. Everyone in the street, quantron and human alike, looked up as a shadow momentarily blotted out the sun. 

Cassie drew in a sharp breath. The outline of the object hovering some fifteen meters above them was familiar, despite the shining halo of the sun that obscured its edges. She knew, with sudden and heart-wrenching certainty, just who had come to their rescue. 

The shadow opened fire on the street below, and she watched without surprise as quantrons staggered and fell beneath the hail of laser fire. Moving slowly, the shadow ceased its unnatural eclipse and allowed the sun to return to prominence in the sky. The ship, silhouetted now in stark clarity against the morning horizon, continued to fire with pinpoint accuracy as it proceeded down the street.

Nearby, TJ took advantage of the general confusion to dispatch the quantron that had been coming for Cassie. She shook her head once, coming out of her reverie with a start. *This isn't the time for daydreaming,* she reminded herself sternly, returning to the fight with a vengeance. 

The tide of battle had been turned by the arrival of their mysterious friend, however, and a few more minutes found the quantrons in retreat. She held out a hand to TJ, and he clasped it for a second before offering his own to Carlos. 

"Good job, you guys," Carlos said, touching first TJ's hand, then Cassie's. 

"You too, man," TJ answered, and Cassie murmured her encouragement as well. 

The hum of a Glider, higher-pitched than the thrum of the one-man fighter ship that still hovered overhead, carried along the now quiet street. Cassie looked up, as they all did, to see the red Glider angling toward them with two passengers. 

Ashley jumped off first, and Andros followed, shooting a look at the Yellow Ranger as he did so. She looked back, but Cassie had no idea what passed between them in those few seconds. 

They turned to the rest of the group as though nothing had happened, and Cassie couldn't help glancing up at the shadow lingering in the sky. She vaguely heard Andros asking if they were all right, but paid no attention as reassurances were passed around. 

*Will you leave now?* she wondered, praying to anyone who was listening that he would not. *You promised,* she reminded the pilot silently. *"See you soon," you said. Please don't make that a lie…* 

"Earth to Cassie," Ashley said loudly, and Cassie tried very hard not to jump. She failed. 

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked, her smug tone of voice saying that she knew very well what had distracted her friend. Cassie nodded anyway, making a face that Ashley would never see behind her visor. 

"Don't make faces at me," the Yellow Ranger reprimanded her, a smile in her voice, and Cassie rolled her eyes, exasperated and amused at the same time. 

"Andros to Phantom," Andros announced, and Cassie turned toward the Red Ranger. She held her breath, wondering if it was only her imagination that made it seem as though the response was overlong in coming. 

"This is Phantom," his voice came back at last. "I'm glad you are well, Rangers." 

"That's debatable," Carlos spoke up. 

TJ added, right on top of the Black Ranger's remark, "We'll get back to you on that one." 

"Are *you* all right, Phantom?" Andros asked, doing his best to ignore the other two. 

"I am… well enough," the enigma replied. The pause in his answer was obvious to everyone listening, but it was overshadowed by the words that followed. "I have information on Zordon." 

The silence that reigned after that comment went unbroken for a good ten seconds. Finally, Carlos repeated, "Zordon?" as though he'd never heard the name before. 

As if they'd been waiting for a signal and Carlos had just given it, everyone started talking again. Even in the mild chaos that followed, though, Cassie didn't miss the turn of the Red Ranger's head, or the tilt to his helmet as he glanced toward Carlos. *The Look?* she thought, remembering Ashley's earlier complaint. 

Then Phantom's voice came over Andros's communicator again, and they quieted. "I don't know how much of our conversation Astronema can overhear," he said, rather pointedly. "And I do not wish to put it to the test…" 

Andros took the hint. "We'll meet on the Megaship," he said to his communicator, though his eyes took in all of the Rangers as he spoke. 

"I will come," Phantom acknowledged. 

The connection terminated, and Andros lowered his arm. He was frowning slightly, and Cassie saw Carlos and Ashley exchange puzzled glances as well. 

She couldn't blame them; Phantom had been absent from their lives for months now. There had been times when she had worried he had been too badly injured the last time they saw him to call for help--not that he ever did anyway. He was worse than Andros when it came to asking for assistance. 

There had always been a part of her that believed she would know if he died, even if the more logical part of her brain refused to accept that. But when weeks passed, with no word from him, and the weeks stretched into months, she had doubted. She suspected they all had, after seeing him barely able to stand following the encounter on Hercuron. 

He was here now, though, alive and apparently well… *So why haven't we heard from him until now?* Cassie thought. She well understood the bemusement of her fellow Rangers--though in her case, the slight was a little more personal. 

*He's a Ranger,* she reminded herself firmly. *You, of all people, know what that means. Some things are just more important, that's all…* 

True though it was, that rationalization had seldom helped her sleep, or cheered her when she found herself staring out at the stars, searching for some sign that she had not been forgotten. Nor did it now quell the pain that came with watching Phantom's ship accelerate away and out of sight, even when she knew it was only heading for orbit. 

"Hey," Ashley said softly, putting a hand on her arm. "You okay?" This time, there was real concern in her voice, and Cassie tried to smile. 

"Yeah," she said, grateful to her friend for bringing her back to the present. "I'll be all right, thanks." 

"Good," TJ put in. "Cause no one's allowed to be depressed." He slung an arm around her shoulder and drew her into the group she didn't even recall stepping away from. "We won, remember? Let's go finish breakfast!" 

Cassie couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. Her first friend in Angel Grove had always been able to cheer her up. "That's right," she said, lifting her chin. 

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Carlos asked, looking skyward and raising his communicator. "Galaxy Glider--hang ten!" 

Summoning her Glider restored the rest of Cassie's perspective, and she actually felt a little silly for being so morose. After all, as TJ had pointed out, they had *won*, and against frightening odds. And if she was going to obsess over Phantom, she might just as well be happy that he had finally decided to rejoin them. 

*He certainly has good timing,* she admitted to herself, stepping onto her Glider. *I just wish it didn't take a catastrophe to make him put in an appearance.* 

The five of them left the street behind, rising into the clear morning air together. Through some unspoken agreement, they bypassed the tunnels of hyperspace that would have returned them almost instantly to the Megaship and opted for the more leisurely pace of realspace flight. 

Cassie kept an eye on the warehouse district until details were impossible to make out, and then she shifted her focus to include all of Angel Grove. Everything looked so peaceful, and the hazy sunshine promised a perfect beach day for teens, children, and adults lucky enough to get away with playing hooky from work. 

She thought she saw Andros looking down as well, and she knew that he had to be thinking along the same lines--beautiful as the scene was, it instilled in her a desire to protect these people from forces that would take this perfect day away from them. *It's a warrior's instinct,* she mused, *to defend that which is vulnerable. And we are all of us warriors…* 

A little ahead of the rest, Ashley executed a victory roll, crouching low to stay with her Glider as she flipped end over end. She looked like nothing so much as an exuberant skydiver, and Cassie felt a grin spread across her face. *Some more than others, of course,* she thought wryly. 

Carlos evidently took Ashley's maneuver as a challenge, for he caught up to and passed her seconds later--but he didn't just swerve around her and continue on. He came up behind her and climbed sharply, turning over as he did so to zip by overhead and upside down, waving as he passed. 

The air was thinning and sound carried less and less, but Cassie heard Ashley's laugh over her communicator. "Showoff!" the Yellow Ranger accused. 

"You started it," Carlos pointed out good-naturedly. 

Cassie looked around for TJ, surprised he hadn't joined in their sport. Even as the thought entered her mind, she saw the Blue Ranger angle toward Ashley and lean into the diminishing wind. "Coming through!" he yelled to the pair, accelerating to the point where Cassie doubted he would be able to turn in time to keep from hitting someone. 

She trusted her friend's judgement though, and said nothing. Just as it looked like TJ and Ashley would collide, the Blue Ranger leapt into the air, somersaulting over Ashley and landing solidly on his Glider just as it shot out from beneath her yellow one. 

"Hey!" Ashley exclaimed indignantly. "Since when am I part of your obstacle course?" 

TJ just laughed, and the Yellow Ranger took off in pursuit across the darkening sky. Cassie shook her head at their antics, glad to see her friends having a good time. 

That thought made her glance over at Andros, who hadn't spoken since they left Earth. He was staring straight ahead, though whether at their fellow Rangers or at the first twinkling stars that had begun to shine through the upper atmosphere, she couldn't tell. 

"Andros?" she asked. 

His helmet turned in her direction. "Yes?" 

She smiled, fondly exasperated at his literalness. "I was just wondering if you were all right." 

Up ahead, she saw the Ashley pause and look back toward the lagging Pink and Red Rangers. She didn't interrupt, however, nor did she attempt to join them, and Cassie was impressed by her restraint. 

The twilight around them deepened considerably before Andros answered. "I was just thinking," he replied at last, but something in the way he said it made her think that he was troubled. 

Tapping her communicator, she cut off her link to the other three Rangers, so they wouldn't hear her side of the conversation. "Thinking?" she prompted gently. "Do you want to talk about it?" 

He shrugged, but a moment later, he cut his communicator off from the rest as well, making their discussion private. "It's just--" He looked ahead, at where TJ, Carlos, and Ashley were still trying to outdo each other. 

"I'm not like that!" Andros burst out suddenly. Then, as though the outburst startled him, he added more quietly, "I'm not like you guys." 

Puzzled, Cassie followed his gaze, not understanding the connection. "No one's exactly the same as anyone else, Andros. Our differences are what make us unique--they're something that should make us proud, not ashamed." 

"But you guys are so…" He hesitated for a second, searching for the word. "Loose. Optimistic. I don't know." 

"Carefree?" Cassie suggested, still uncertain what he was getting at but trying to see the other Rangers from his point of view. 

He nodded. "Exactly." Andros sighed, though she didn't think he intended for her to hear it. "Especially Ashley…" 

With those last two words, comprehension dawned. *He's not talking about us so much as he is about her,* she realized. "And you think you're not?" 

"I *know* I'm not," he answered, still watching the friendly competition of the other Rangers. So quietly he was almost whispering, Andros asked, "Why would she want to hang around with someone so completely the opposite of her?" 

Cassie's heart went out to him. "You've never heard that opposites attract?" 

"Or explode," he mumbled. It took her a moment to realize that he'd taken her literally again, taking the science of what she'd said rather than the traditional usage. 

"Andros," Cassie began, as the Megaship appeared first as a bright star, then a rapidly growing splotch in the night sky, "Ashley lo--likes you just the way you are." Not sure how far her friends' feelings went, she edited her sentence just in time. 

"But--" he objected, not seeming to notice her stammer. 

"Look at it this way," she interrupted him. "Why are *you* attracted to someone so completely the opposite of yourself?" 

"That's different," Andros protested, the Megaship looming large in the background. 

"Is it?" Cassie replied, just before the Megaship's teleportation system snatched them off their Gliders. 

The flash of pink faded to reveal the Glider holding bay, and Cassie found herself standing, demorphed, in front of her jump tube. She glanced around for the others, and found them gathered once more at the table on the lower level. 

"Hey, slowpokes!" Carlos waved at them, and Cassie grinned back. 

"Hi, speed demons," she replied, climbing down to join them. She caught Ashley's eye and tilted her head at Andros, who had come down the other set of stairs. 

A slight frown creased Ashley's forehead, and she followed Andros over to the Synthetron. "Are you all right?" Cassie heard her ask quietly. 

*I think that makes the fifth time someone's asked that question this morning,* Cassie thought idly, considering her interrupted meal. 

"Is this contagious?" Carlos asked, watching Andros and Ashley with barely concealed curiosity. 

"What?" TJ inquired, digging into his pancakes with gusto. 

"This brooding. First Cassie, now Andros--it's going around like a bad cold," Carlos observed, turning back to the table. Regarding TJ with amazement, he added, "And how can you *eat* those? They've been sitting here for almost an hour!" 

"Can't even tell," TJ assured him. "Besides, *you* got to eat before we left--I'm hungry!" 

"You're not the only one," Andros agreed, returning to the table with a full plate and glass. 

Ashley was right behind him, and she regarded her abandoned food with much the same air as Cassie and Carlos. Lifting her own glass, she wrinkled her nose as she tasted her drink. "My juice is warm," she complained, as though it were the most exasperating thing that had happened all morning. 

Without a word, Andros carefully extracted an ice cube from his own glass and dropped it into hers. Ashley beamed at him, and Cassie hid a smile of her own. *And that,* she thought at Andros, *is one of the reasons she would want to "hang around with you".* 

DECA broke into the ensuing pause with the announcement Cassie had been waiting for: "Preparing for docking procedures." 

"Thanks, DECA," Andros said. Breakfast apparently forgotten, he headed for the door. 

Cassie followed, pausing only long enough to return her plate and unfinished meal to the Synthetron. Carlos and Ashley were right behind her, and TJ caught up to them in the corridor, two pancakes in hand, rolled crepe-style for easier eating with his fingers. 

"Docking procedures initiated," DECA said, to no one in particular. And, seconds later, as they approached the drydock chamber at the end of Deck 6: "Phantom's ship has been secured." 

The five of them entered the chamber as soon as the door unlocked--which was to say, as soon as the other side stopped being a vacuum--and were in time to witness the last stages of their ally's arrival. 

Technically, Cassie had known that Phantom's ship couldn't truly "dock". It had never been designed to connect with another vessel, and as such, had no airlock. Thus, his ship would have to be completely engulfed by an atmosphere--the Megaship's, in this case--for him to be able to exit safely. 

The knowledge of this phenomenon was one thing, however. Actually seeing his ship hovering within the cavernous bay at the back of the Megaship was something else entirely.

The ship set down slowly, almost gingerly lowering itself to the ground. Then there was another wait while the engines and various other equipment powered down. Finally, though, the canopy seals were popped from the inside and the hiss of hydraulics could be heard as the clearsteel covering lifted. 

The pilot climbed out without fanfare or flourish. As soon as his boots touched the ground, he turned to regard them for a moment. Then he walked forward, stopping little more than a meter away, and inclined his head. "It is good to see you again, Rangers," he said. 

Andros let out his breath, though whether in relief or annoyance or a combination of the two, it was impossible to say. "It's good to see you at *all*," he responded, a half-smile on his face. "When we didn't hear from you after Hercuron, we didn't know what to think." 

"Yes," Phantom admitted, glancing at each of them in turn. His gaze lingered on Cassie, and he said, "I'm sorry for that." 

Caught staring, Cassie found she couldn't look away. *He looks so tired,* she thought. *What has he being going through these last few months?* 

"I will tell you what happened, if you wish to know," he continued, still looking at Cassie, "but first, I have news that you should hear." 

"You said you had information on Zordon," Ashley interjected. 

Phantom nodded. "I have." From somewhere on his person, he retrieved a small data disk. "This is a recording of a transmission Dark Spectre sent to Astronema. His message mentions both Zordon and the Astro Rangers." 

He passed the disk to Andros, who glanced at it as though he could tell what it said just by looking. Then he gave Phantom a curious look, but when the mysterious Ranger said nothing more, he shrugged. 

"We'll play it on the Bridge," Andros announced--logical, since drydock had no diskreaders. The sensitive electronics couldn't withstand the vacuum of space that invaded whenever the doors were opened. 

As the others trooped out, Cassie waited a moment, looking over her shoulder. Phantom hadn't moved. 

"Phantom?" She addressed him the only way she knew how, since he'd never told any of them his name, or even if he *had* another name. 

"Cassie," he replied, and she cocked her head at him. 

"Coming?" she asked at last, when he said nothing more. 

He nodded once, and the two of them left the room in awkward silence. Joining the others on the Bridge, they found a staticky image already playing on the viewsceen. The picture quality improved as time went on, but from the very beginning, it was impossible to mistake Dark Spectre's gravelly voice and lavalike form. 

"Astronema," he began, "this is Dark Spectre, lord of all that is evil and despicable--" 

Cassie rolled her eyes. She just couldn't take someone who sounded like Cookie Monster on a cookieless day seriously. *Especially when he uses such awful intros,* she thought, exchanging glances with Carlos, who was also trying not to laugh. 

"I located Dark Spectre's ship almost a week ago," Phantom told them, seemingly oblivious to their semi-contained mirth. "I intercepted this transmission 28 hours later, and managed to decode it." 

"You found Dark Spectre's ship?" TJ repeated, speaking over the recording, which was still going on about the evil glory of Dark Spectre. 

"Yes," Phantom said. "But Zordon is no longer aboard it. He was taken from Hercuron by Divatox, who had orders to guard Zordon until further notice." 

"Divatox!" Carlos exclaimed. 

Studying the screen, Andros motioned for them to be quiet. Dark Spectre had finally gotten around to what Cassie assumed was the point of his message: "You have kept the Rangers busy, Astronema. Now you must increase your efforts--Zordon will be moved soon, and I don't want any trouble." 

The being swiveled his giant head, and continued, "If those Astro Rangers get so much as a hint about Zordon, I will hold you responsible. Do whatever you have to to keep them distracted--maybe you'll get lucky and destroy some of them." His tone said that he found that almost infinitely improbable, and Cassie could just imagine Astronema's fury when she received the message. 

As Dark Spectre rambled on with some not-very-subtle threat about what would happen if Astronema failed, Phantom took up his narrative again. "Two days later, the Dark Fortress appeared alongside Dark Spectre's ship. I do not know what words Astronema and Dark Spectre exchanged, but she departed again within the hour. 

"I continued to follow Dark Spectre's ship under cloak, in the hopes that I would gain some clue as to Zordon's whereabouts. I monitored the Dark Fortress's progress back to Earth, however, and noted that she detoured several times to outposts overrun with quantrons." 

The screen went dark as the message came to its end, and Phantom continued. "I realized that she and Dark Spectre must have resolved their differences--if that was indeed why she came to speak with him in person--and that Astronema had to be collecting soldiers to send against the five of you." 

There was a quiet moment as Phantom's words sank in. It was strange to hear how their own situation had come about from someone who had witnessed both cause and effect. *And equally strange,* Cassie mused, regarding the black-clad figure with some surprise, *to hear the story from one who has never spoken more than three or four sentences at a time to any of us.*

"I couldn't allow you to face such an army unprepared," Phantom said at last. "My intention was merely to warn you, but Astronema was thorough in her efforts to isolate you from the rest of the universe. Not only did she attack your homeworld--" Andros shifted uncomfortably at that, but Phantom continued without pause, "--in effect keeping you here on Earth, but she also jammed all interstellar communication to and from this solar system." 

A general stir shuffled through the room. Cassie looked at TJ, then Andros, who shrugged at them. "We've had no contact with anyone for days, but that's not unusual. There was no way to realize what she was doing unless we attempted to broadcast a message ourselves." 

"Which we haven't," Carlos murmured. 

"Well, it's a good thing you couldn't just warn us," Ashley opined. "If you hadn't shown up this morning, I'm not sure we would have been able to win that fight in the warehouse district." 

"Yeah, thanks, man," TJ added. "We could have been in serious trouble without you." 

Though sobering, Cassie knew their words were true. She saw even Andros nod in reluctant agreement. 

"So what are we going to do?" Carlos asked, ever practical. "We can't just stand around and let Dark Spectre get away with this. If Zordon's being moved, he'll be easier to trace." 

"And Dark Spectre knows that," TJ reminded him. "There's probably an entire army surrounding Zordon." 

"Maybe not," Andros put in. "Astronema was supposed to distract us, remember? Dark Spectre must think that we have some chance of stopping him, or he wouldn't have bothered to assign her to keep us busy." 

"Wait," Ashley said. "This is what I don't get--why us? Why are we so important that Astronema's only mission keep us occupied? I mean, there are other Rangers out there, right?" 

"Every League planet has its own Ranger team," Phantom confirmed. 

"But what about the other space Rangers?" Ashley persisted. "We can't be the only ones." 

Though she'd never devoted much thought to it, Cassie had always assumed that the Astro Rangers weren't alone. After all, one team to protect a universe? That didn't seem very logical, especially when they were filling in for the non-existent Earth team. 

As the others considered Ashley's question, Cassie couldn't help but notice that Phantom and Andros were being particularly silent. With Phantom, of course, it was hard to tell whether he was deliberately holding back information or simply didn't have anything to contribute. Andros, on the other hand, was rather obviously avoiding everyone's gaze. 

TJ noticed, too. "Andros?" he asked, looking around at the others for support. 

Andros shot a look at Phantom. Neither of them said anything, though, and Cassie wondered what they could possibly be keeping from the former Rangers of Earth. 

"Andros," Ashley repeated, and he sighed. 

"There are no other space Rangers," Andros told them. "There never have been." 

"What?" Carlos looked as surprised as Cassie felt. "One team can't defend an entire universe from people like Astronema." 

"It was never intended to," Andros agreed. "The universe is too big a battle ground. Ranger teams have always protected their planet of origin, or, in some cases, joined with each other to protect multiple worlds. There was no need for a space team, because every populated planet on the side of good had their own Rangers." 

"So… what are we doing here?" Ashley looked around, the expression on her face one of confusion. 

*I'm glad I'm not the only one,* Cassie thought, feeling as though she'd missed something vitally important to the conversation. "If there's no space team, then who are we?" she asked, bemused. 

Andros shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "Technically, I'm still a Kerovan Ranger. My sister and I were to be part of the team defending KO-35…" He swallowed. "But Kerone was kidnapped before we were old enough to accept the responsibility, and after the colony was deserted, I was the only one of the four of us who were left that didn't give up my claim to the Ranger powers." 

It took a moment before Cassie caught on to the irony of the situation: despite all of Andros's remarks when they had first met about her and her friends being planetary Rangers--he had originally been the same. 

"But what does that make us?" TJ wanted to know. 

Andros looked questioningly at Phantom, who shook his head. "I have been somewhat… removed from the current League proceedings. All I can tell you is that before Eltare fell, you were listed as Earth Rangers." 

"Until a little after that, we *were* Earth Rangers," TJ muttered. 

"You're probably still considered Rangers of Earth," Andros told him. "I've been listed as a Kerovan Ranger since I first morphed, and KO-35's been deserted for years." 

"Bureaucracy's the same everywhere," Carlos said with a grin. 

"Why Kerovan?" Ashley asked suddenly. "Why aren't you a Ranger for KO-35?" 

"There are two habitable planets in the Kerova system," Andros explained. "The other one was supposed to be colonized as well, and since there were so few of us, there was only going to be one team for the two planets." 

*Plus, it would be really hard to say KO-35ian,* Cassie thought, smiling to herself. Ashley nodded at Andros's explanation, but from the look on her face, she was thinking the same thing. 

"So that leaves us with the unlikely alliance of Kerovan and Earth Rangers," Carlos mused. "And friends," he added, glancing at Phantom. "But it still doesn't answer my question: what are we going to do?" 

"Andros had a good point," TJ said, and the speed with which he answered made Cassie realize he'd been thinking about this throughout the discussion. "Dark Spectre must think we're a threat, or he wouldn't have gone to this much trouble to keep us out of the way." 

"We can't go after Zordon and leave your planet unprotected," Andros objected. 

"But you said that Astronema was only distracting us," Ashley put in, looking from Andros to Phantom, and back again. "If we go in search of Zordon, she'll follow." 

"Only if she's certain she can't force you to come back again," Phantom pointed out quietly. "Would you not return if she sent quantrons into the middle of your homes?" 

"We'd have to be able to out-bluff her…" TJ said, thinking aloud. 

Carlos shook his head. "That's too dangerous. What we need is someone who can stay behind on Earth and deal with anything she can come up with. With Earth protected, Astronema will know there's no way to lure us back here." 

Before anyone could ask the most obvious question, Alpha, who had been oddly unobtrusive throughout the recorded transmission and ensuing conversation, suddenly spoke up. "I'm certain the Aquitian Rangers would be happy to help. After all, their team has helped Earth before." 

"Of course!" TJ exclaimed. "Aquitar is far enough away that Astronema won't expect us to get help from there--and it's too far for her to send anything to attack while their Rangers are gone." 

"Alpha, contact Aquitar," Andros ordered, and the robot threw its hands up in the air in a very familiar gesture. 

"Yes, Andros, right away! Oh, this is so exciting…" 

Cassie couldn't help smiling at Alpha's enthusiasm, and when TJ caught her eye, he was grinning too. She swapped smiles with Ashley as well before glancing at Phantom. 

*Do you smile?* she wondered, finding no expression in his stance. Looking harder, she saw again the faint hint of exhaustion in his posture, and it alarmed her to see him sway slightly and put a hand out to steady himself on a nearby control panel. 

Her concern must have shown on her face, for he looked directly at her and shook his head, just once. She looked around to see if anyone else had noticed, but they were busy watching the screen as Alpha established a video link with Aquitar. Returning her gaze to Phantom, she nodded her understanding--but she vowed that if he was hurt, he would get medical care no matter *what* he said. 

A flash from the screen made her shift her attention in that direction, and Cassie saw a peculiar logo of stylized five-colored swirls. *The Aquitian Rangers' logo,* she guessed, assuming that whoever was on the other end was seeing the five-colored bar that adorned all the Astro Rangers' uniforms. 

She cast one more worried glance at Phantom before the image dissolved to reveal the underwater world of Aquitar. He was standing on his own now, though she suspected it was through willpower alone, and he faced the screen as everyone else did. 

Cassie looked back just in time to see a girl somewhat older than herself staring out of the screen at them. "I am Cetaci, White Ranger of Aquitar," she introduced herself, bowing in the tradition of her people. "May I be of assistance?" 

"I am Andros, Red Astro Ranger." Andros returned both the introduction and the bow, and continued, "We are contacting you in the hope that you will be able to help us outwit the villain known as Astronema." 

"Yes, we know of Astronema," Cetaci replied earnestly. "And the Astro Rangers are also well-known on this planet." 

Cassie didn't know quite what to make of that--Cetaci seemed sincere enough, but her formality and lack of expression made it hard judge the meaning of what she was saying. Still, Andros--whose ease at adopting the Aquitian way of phrasing things amazed her--appeared to take the comment at face value. 

He went on, "We have been searching for Zordon for some time now, and a friend recently brought us new information on his whereabouts--but Astronema is making certain we can't act on that information. She continues to attack Earth, effectively containing us there." 

"And you wish the Aquitian Rangers to defend Earth for you while you search for Zordon?" Again, there seemed to be no judgement in the question, just genuine curiosity--and again, Cassie was amazed, this time at the way Zordon seemed to be known everywhere. 

Andros nodded. "We do." He offered no further reasons or excuses, simply waited for Cetaci to decide. 

"One moment, please," Cetaci said, and the screen went dark. A tense moment passed while Cetaci contacted her teammates. 

The answer was not long in coming. The screen brightened less than a minute later, and Cetaci smiled out at them. "We will come," the White Ranger assured them, and Cassie heard sighs of relief pass among her fellow Rangers. 

"Transmitting coordinates for teleportation now," Andros said, fingers dancing across the control panel in front of him. "Thank you, Cetaci. We look forward to meeting you."

"And we you," she replied, touching her fingertips together in an Aquitian sign of respect. Andros mimicked the gesture, and the screen dimmed, flashing the five-colored swirls once more before it darkened completely. 

"What coordinates did you give them?" Carlos asked. 

"The lakeshore," Andros answered briefly, tapping a few more controls. "DECA, send these coordinates to everyone's morphers." Then, to Carlos, he added, "They need freshwater, and the lake is the largest source in Angel Grove." 

Cassie pulled her sleeve up to reveal her astromorpher, still on her wrist from the recent fight. Tapping the catch to flip it open, and then several of the buttons inside, the numbers 1-0-8 flashed up at her in holographic gold before fading into nothingness. DECA's coordinates were transferred through the link, and her morpher reported a location lock for teleportation. 

Around her, the others were doing the same thing. Exchanging glances, they crossed their arms simultaneously and turned into miniature waterfalls of red, yellow, blue and black light. 

Cassie watched them go, then looked over at Phantom. "You're not coming," she said, stating the obvious. 

"I am not needed," he answered. 

"Plus, you can barely stand up," Cassie pointed out with some asperity. 

"I'm fine," Phantom insisted, and she remembered the last time he had said that. It had taken the combined forces of both her and Ashley to hold him up. 

"Come over here and say that," Cassie challenged, folding her arms in front of her. "I want to see you stand without leaning on that console." 

For a moment, he just looked at her. Then, slowly, he stepped away from the scanner controls and walked carefully towards her. "I am all right, Cassie," he assured her, just as he stumbled. 

She leaped forward, grabbing his arm and helping him into a chair. "Tell me what's wrong," she requested, leaving her hand on his arm. 

He looked down at her hand, then at her face. Finally, he turned his head away. "Your friends are waiting for you." 

"And if I go down there with them," she said, trying to lighten the mood, "how do I know you'll still be here when I come back?" 

The way he started, head jerking up to look at her and arm twitching beneath her hand, told her that her attempt at humor had been far closer to the truth than she would have ever believed. For a moment, Cassie could only stare at him, bewildered and hurt. Then, softly, she said, "That's what you were going to do, isn't it. While we went down to greet the Aquitians, you were going to leave. 

Trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice, she repeated, "You were going to leave…"

_fin_


	4. Comings And Goings

_Disclaimer: I didn't credit whoever owns Sesame Street last time for that Cookie Monster reference… Is that bad? :) Thanks for making such cool characters, Saban._

**Comings and Goings  
by Starhawk**

"Hey, Astronema!" Elgar's strident voice echoed across the Bridge of the Dark Fortress. 

She turned, a glower darkening her youthful features. As usual, Elgar was oblivious to her displeasure, but that didn't stop her from glaring whenever he spoke. Soon, Astronema had vowed, she would find a way to send that incompetent buffoon back to wherever he'd come from. 

Elgar's next words, however, ensured that today would not be that day. "Four of the Rangers just teleported down to the lake," he reported, loudly enough to deafen several nearby quantrons. 

"Four?" Astronema repeated, momentarily distracted. She caught Ecliptor's eye, returning his speculative look with one of her own. "Is the Phantom Ranger with them?" 

"Nope, he's not," Elgar said, as proudly as though he himself were responsible for this fact. 

Ecliptor straightened, and she saw her bodyguard clench his fist around his broadsword. "Send down the quantrons," Astronema ordered. 

***

As the sapphire glow cleared from TJ's eyes, he looked around with appreciation. Andros must have had a map on the tactical screen in front of him when he chose this location, because this spot was about as private as Angel Grove's lake got. The trees came right down to the water, hiding the Rangers from the beach on the other side. 

Glancing across the water, TJ noted that the most popular beach area was empty this early. Still, there was no way to know how long that would continue, and he was thankful for the relative security their present location gave them. 

*Now, as long as the Aquitians don't wait too long to put in an appearance,* he thought, looking skyward. Although no one would be able to sneak up on them here, the colored streaks of teleportation arching across the sky would be easy enough to see if someone were looking for them--and there were some people just curious enough to follow them. 

"Hey," Ashley said, cutting into his musing. "Where's Cassie?" 

TJ's gaze returned to the little clearing in which he and his friends stood--he and his friends, minus one. Cassie was not among them. *For that matter,* he realized, putting the pieces together in his mind, *where's Phantom?* 

***

The one known as Phantom had seen a lot of hurt in his life. He had seen friends left behind and teammates lost, and he had seen the beginnings of a war that was currently shaking many of the League worlds to their very foundations. At one point in his life, he had thought he was so numb to pain that he would never feel anything again. 

His first visit to Earth had changed all that, though. At the request of a friend, he had ventured across the universe to a small blue-green marble in orbit around a nondescript G-type star. He had sought out the Ranger team that defended it--this, one of the least significant of the League worlds, yet perpetually plagued with would-be conquerors. And here, on this out of the way world, he found something that most of his people spent a good part of their lives searching for. 

He had known her as soon as he saw her, and had known, then, that he was not so impervious to emotion as he had thought. Her smile had kept him on Earth longer than he had intended to stay, and had made him return more often than he could justify. He had felt the bond between them, even that first time, and with that recognition he lost the impassivity that had protected him for almost two years. 

Sometimes, he wanted that feeling of indifferent numbness back. More often, though, he felt he wouldn't trade the joy he felt at knowing her for anything. Even when, as now, that knowing brought him pain. 

The look of betrayal on Cassie's face cut through his heart in a way nothing had for years. And it was almost worse to know that he could take that look off her face with a single sentence, and yet didn't dare. 

Instead, his words were the opposite of those he wished he could say, and he hated himself for them even as he spoke. "I *must* leave… I'm sorry, Cassie." 

She stared at him, still with that awful expression that made him feel as though there was nothing he could have said that would hurt her more. "I understand *that*," she said at last, "but to leave without even telling us… without telling me? Why would you do that?" 

*This is why,* he thought, unable to look away from her sorrowful eyes. *I didn't think I could do it if it meant looking into your eyes and saying that I was leaving you again.* 

"Phantom," she said, and he closed his eyes, knowing that every moment he lingered made it harder to justify leaving to her. But her hand rested gently on his arm and her voice fell like music on his ears, and he couldn't tear himself away. 

"Phantom, please talk to me," Cassie said, and he opened his eyes to find her staring straight through his armor to his very soul. 

"I…" He finally looked away, unable to bear the pleading look on her face. "I can't." Suddenly, the edges of his vision darkened, and he felt the familiar exhaustion catching up with him. He fought it off with an effort. 

"Why not?" Cassie insisted, frustrated but still so gentle with him that he almost wished she would yell. It would make her distress easier to cope with. 

"I have a mission to complete," he heard himself say, as though from a distance. 

"What mission? To find Zordon?" Cassie's fingers tightened on his arm. "We all want that. Why can't--" 

He jerked his head back as he started to nod off, but he knew he had given himself away. Cassie's arm was around him, now, lifting him from the chair and helping him into the lift. Her strength astonished him--or it would have, had he been thinking coherently enough to be astonished. 

The next thing he knew, she was guiding him into the Medical bay, and DECA was saying something too quietly for him to hear. Then he was lying on the patient bed, staring up at Cassie's worried face. 

Suddenly, she looked away, and it took him a moment to register that the alarm was shrieking at them. He struggled to sit up, knowing the sound meant danger and that it was his duty to help. But Cassie pushed him back down with one hand, giving him a glare that pierced the fog surrounding him. "*You're* not going," he heard her say, very distinctly. She said something else, this time to DECA, and gave him one more look before she disappeared. 

He tried to hold the darkness at bay, but it would not be put off. The fog moved in closer, and he finally succumbed to its embrace, taking that last image of Cassie with him into oblivion. 

***

"This is starting to get *old*!" Ashley yelled, using the emphasis on the last word to focus her energy into a hurricane kick that sent a nearby quantron flying into a tree. 

"I mean," she continued, "you'd think Astronema would have something *better* to do--" As before, she made the accentuated word into a kiyah, this time punching a quantron in the chest. "--than send her endless robotic minions after us!" 

Carlos tried to hold back a grin. Unmorphed, the Yellow Ranger was holding quantrons off with an ease he envied, even as he recognized the driving force behind it. Ashley was really mad now, and she was letting everyone know it. *If those quantrons know what's good for them,* he thought, *they'll stay away from her this morning.* 

A brief gleam of pink sparkles amid the silver of the quantrons signaled Cassie's arrival. Assuming she'd tell them if it was important, Carlos didn't comment on her absence. TJ, on the other hand, had no such compunction. 

"Nice of you to join us!" he shouted across the clearing. 

"I'll go back to the Megaship if you want," Cassie retorted, blocking a blow and twisting the offending arm over the quantron's shoulder, costing it both its balance and standing position as it hit the ground with a thump. 

Just then, further reinforcements arrived in the form of the multicolored water molecule pattern that characterized the Aquitian teleportation system. Fully morphed, the Rangers of Aquitar appeared in the clearing. They took only seconds to assess the situation before they, too, plunged into the fray. 

Within moments, Carlos found himself without an opponent. The Aquitian Rangers were keeping every single one of the quantrons occupied, while the team from the Megaship caught a breather. 

He looked around in the momentary lull, counting heads, just to make sure. Andros and Ashley stood off to his right, shoulders almost touching as they recovered together. TJ was only about a meter to Carlos's left, eyes darting across the fight, ready to leap back in at a moment's notice. Cassie stood on the other side of the clearing, and by the intensity of her expression, wanted nothing more than to hit something, hard. 

*She stayed behind to talk to Phantom,* Carlos realized, feeling rather silly for not figuring it out earlier. *So--why does she look so upset?* 

The Yellow Aquitian Ranger fell, and Carlos abandoned his train of thought, ready to lend aid if necessary. But the Blue Ranger beat him to it, sending quantrons sprawling as he moved closer to his fallen comrade and offered a hand. Yellow shoulder rolled backward and came to her feet without assistance, but she took the hand anyway in a surprisingly affectionate gesture. 

*Romance is in the air,* Carlos thought wryly, inadvertently glancing at Andros and Ashley again. They both looked away from the fight at the same moment, locking gazes for a breath, and Carlos smiled. 

He'd been jealous at first, he had to admit. Returning his gaze to the fight, he watched the Aquitians decimate the quantrons' ranks, idly remembering the day they'd met Andros. He'd known Ashley for years, and he'd recognized the look she gave Andros when he demorphed the first time: complete absorption. 

Andros's appearance had surprised them all. Although they hadn't been prepared to see an alien when he demorphed, they certainly hadn't expected a human. Carlos had looked over to exchange glances with Ashley--a gesture they had made often that day, one of reassurance and support in the completely foreign environment in which they'd found themselves. 

Only this time, Ashley hadn't returned it. He saw her gaze fix on Andros, saw her fall into his eyes and pull back immediately, the surprise on her face easily readable to him as she realized the effect their reluctant savior had had on her. 

Even then, though, she didn't look in Carlos's direction. She'd stepped instead toward Andros, circling him with a speculative look on her face and poking him the way she might an doubtful bowl of jello. Carlos had recognized it as her way of distancing herself, but her haste to introduce herself on Cassie's heels made it clear she hadn't succeeded. 

*She had a crush on him from the beginning,* Carlos thought, as the White Ranger tossed a quantron to the ground. *And somehow… he's come to mean more to her than that.* 

*I'm glad,* Carlos decided finally. The five alien Rangers were driving the remaining quantrons back, toward the lake. *We'll never stop being friends--but her heart is his, and as long as Andros knows what a good thing he has, there's no reason for me to get involved.* 

The quantrons evaporated into double pinpoints of light, vanishing into the midmorning air. The Aquitian Rangers broke out into cheers and congratulations, jolting Carlos out of his reflections. *Daydreaming during a battle,* he thought ruefully. *Ashley would laugh.* 

The Aquitian Rangers were making their way back into the clearing, and Carlos, TJ, and Cassie moved over to flank Andros and Ashley. The alien Rangers positioned themselves so that the two teams faced each other at a distance of perhaps a meter and a half. There was an awkward pause while it seemed possible the Aquitians wouldn't demorph--but then, at some signal that Carlos missed, all five of them touched fingertips and thumbs together and their Ranger uniforms vanished.

He took in their black V-neck tunics, lined with purple and open far enough to reveal a shirt of their color beneath. Letting his gaze slide down the line, he quickly tried to match face with color for future reference--and stopped short when he reached the Blue Ranger. 

Then Andros stepped slightly forward, and Carlos's attention returned to his team. "I am called Andros," the Kerovan Ranger introduced himself. "And these are Carlos, Ashley, Cassie, and TJ." 

Each Ranger nodded as he said their name, and Ashley waved. Carlos noticed, though, when he snuck a glance at his teammates, that he wasn't the only one to take a second look at the Blue Aquitian Ranger. 

"I am Cetaci," the White Aquitian Ranger declared in return. "My teammates are Aura, Delphinius, Cestria, and Billy. We greet you, Rangers of Earth." Bringing their fingertips together once more, each of the alien Rangers bowed. 

Carlos gave his head a quick shake. *So it wasn't my overtired brain,* he thought, amazed. *Billy is definitely not an Aquitian name.* And the Blue Ranger was decidedly human looking. 

Andros didn't seem the least bit surprised. "We welcome you, Rangers of Aquitar," he replied, imitating the bow, "and we thank you for your assistance, both past and future." 

"Yeah, you have good timing," TJ put in, apparently unable to abide all this formality. 

The Blue Aquitian Ranger grinned, but Cetaci merely cocked her head at TJ and said, "We came when we were called." 

"Well, thanks," Cassie said, her expression cheerful even if Carlos knew her well enough to see through it. He wondered again what had transpired on the Megaship in their absence. "With Astronema's recent attacks, we wouldn't be able to risk leaving Earth to go after Zordon if you hadn't come." 

"We are always willing to help our friends on Earth," the Yellow Aquitian Ranger told her. Turning her head to regard the human at her side, Cestria added, "You have always been there for us." 

There was no mistaking the tender look that flashed between the two, and Carlos wished he could ask how their team had come to include someone so obviously not of Aquitar. *Then again,* he thought, looking over at the "alien" Ranger of their own team, *we've got Andros. Think of the stories we could trade with these people…* 

***

As the Aquitian Rangers dissolved into topaz haze, something occurred to Ashley. When the Bridge reformed around her, she inquired of no one in particular, "Where exactly are they going to stay?" 

Right on top of her, Carlos asked, "Who is *Billy*?" 

They looked at each other, and Ashley saw TJ fold his arms across his chest. "As long as we're talking about unanswerable questions," the Blue Ranger said mildly, "can someone tell me how they knew to arrive morphed?" 

A pervasive quiet settled over the Bridge, and Ashley glanced at Andros. He didn't appear to be paying the slightest bit of attention. Rather, his gaze roamed across the Bridge with an expression of confusion that he usually reserved for the actions of his shipmates. 

Frowning, Andros wanted to know, "Where's Phantom?" 

That brought Ashley up short. In the excitement of meeting the Aquitians, she had almost forgotten about their old ally. She shot a quick look around the Bridge as well, but Andros was right: Phantom was nowhere to be seen. 

"Cassie?" TJ asked, and Ashley turned her attention to her friend--and found her halfway across the Bridge, heading for the lift. 

Cassie barely paused. "He collapsed," she told them over her shoulder. 

"What!" Ashley's startled exclamation was echoed by TJ, and Cassie halted in the doorway to look at them. 

"A few minutes after you guys left, he just couldn't stand up any more," she said, the façade of cheerfulness that she had worn on the planet now gone. Worry had replaced it, tinged with an anger that Ashley didn't understand. "Even sitting down, he couldn't seem to stay conscious. I took him down to the Medical bay…" 

Here, Cassie shrugged helplessly. "He wouldn't tell me what was wrong, though, and the alarm went off before DECA could check him out."

Eyes wide, Ashley looked around at the others, catching first Carlos's eye, then TJ's. They both looked as shocked as she felt, but TJ recovered quickest. 

"We're coming with you," he informed Cassie, striding across the Bridge to join her. TJ gave her shoulder an sympathetic squeeze while they waited for the others to catch up, and Ashley saw Cassie send a small smile in his direction. 

As they piled into the lift, Ashley felt someone bump into her from behind. Turning, she saw Andros duck his head, an apologetic expression on his face. "Sorry," he offered, and she waved it away, moving over to give him room. 

"Deck four," Cassie ordered, and the doors slid shut. The trip took only seconds, but Ashley could sense the Pink Ranger's impatience nonetheless. 

They emerged at last onto Deck four, heading for the open doors of the Medical bay. Like most of the other vital areas of the ship, the doors here were locked open for easier passage during an emergency. 

By some unspoken agreement, they all let Cassie enter first. Phantom lay still on the only patient bed currently set up, showing no sign that he was aware of their presence. 

Behind her, Ashley heard Andros's sharp intake of breath as he caught sight of his friend for the first time. She fumbled for his hand and tangled her fingers in his, looking for support as much as lending it. She had seen Phantom like this only once before, and it had been an experience she had never thought--or wanted--to repeat. 

It was a minute before anyone could find words. Even Cassie, who had been the one to bring him here, seemed unwilling or unable to speak. She simply stood beside the bed, staring down at their reluctant ally. 

Carlos was the first to break the silence. "DECA?" he asked, his voice tentative in the hushed atmosphere. "What's wrong with him?" 

DECA's camera had been on when they entered the room, and now it turned slightly to observe Carlos. "The Phantom Ranger is not injured in any way," she replied. 

Cassie looked up at that, and Ashley was surprised to see a glimmer of tears in her eyes. "DECA, he's unconscious," she pointed out quietly. 

"He is asleep," DECA corrected. 

Andros reached across Ashley and grabbed the datapad that had been linked to the medical scanners. "His vital signs are low, and his adrenaline level is too high…" The Red Ranger looked up. "That's nothing that can't be explained by extreme fatigue, though." 

*When *does* Phantom sleep?* Ashley wondered suddenly. She'd never thought about it before, but he couldn't possibly live on his ship. *So where does he go?* 

"So… he just needs rest?" TJ asked, apparently having trouble with the concept. 

Andros nodded. "I don't know when he'll wake up, but when he does, he should be all right." 

Cassie seemed somewhat reassured by this news. Looking more closely at her friend, though, Ashley saw the same hint of anger that had lingered in her expression earlier. Before she could wonder about it, though, Andros's fingers tightened on hers, distracting her. 

Startled, she looked in his direction. His last comment had been directed at TJ, but he was staring at her with a look on his face that she couldn't interpret. 

Ashley cocked her head, silently questioning him. He shook his head once, but Ashley just raised her eyebrows, not sure she wanted to let it go. It was more curiosity than anything else… What did he think about when he fixed that impassive gaze on something--or someone? 

"I'll tell you later," Andros murmured. His tone, quiet though it was, carried clearly in the silent medical bay. Ashley saw Carlos glance at them, but TJ pretended not to hear. And Cassie… Cassie was so lost in thought that she might really *not* have heard. 

"That's what you said before," Ashley whispered back, referring to his words when they'd returned to breakfast after the fight in the warehouse district. At his concerned look, she smiled to show she was only teasing. 

With only a brief hesitation, Andros smiled back, and she caught her breath. He didn't often smile like that--a real smile, one that took the seriousness out of his eyes, not just a quirk of the lips--and to know it was for her made her feel warm inside. 

"Hey, Andros," Carlos interrupted quietly, moving a step or two closer to them. "I know we're all worried about Phantom, but Ashley had a good point earlier. The Aquitians don't exactly have a place to stay on Earth…" 

"Yeah," TJ agreed, moving away from Cassie and Phantom to join the group that now clustered against the far wall of the Medical bay. "We can't ask them to teleport back and forth from Aquitar." 

"They won't," Andros said. He let go of Ashley's hand, whether out of self-consciousness or something else, she couldn't tell. "That's why we met them at the lake--the Aquitian team has a seaship that simulates the environment on Aquitar. They use it whenever they leave their planet for extended periods of time. It uses less power when it's submerged, so I sent them the coordinates for the lake, and the seaship teleported at the same time they did." 

"Wait a minute," Carlos objected. "I admit I don't know much Earth Ranger history, and what I do know I can't keep straight, but I'm sure the Aquitians traveled to Earth at least once. And wasn't one of the major problems their difficulty surviving in our environment?" He looked at TJ and Ashley for confirmation. 

Andros only shrugged. "If they visited your planet more than a year ago, it's no wonder. Their seaship is a relatively new vessel; I don't think it's even been field-tested more than a dozen times." 

"And they trust it?" Ashley frowned, knowing how hypocritical she sounded but unable to help it. The Rangers had, after all, put their faith in completely untried mechanisms before, and in the middle of battle no less. But if there was one thing all those science labs had drilled into her, it was to never trust results until you'd completed as many trials as were feasible. 

"It was designed by Billy Cranston," Andros replied, as though that explained it. 

Ashley shot a bemused look at TJ, who just shrugged. Carlos, on the other hand, got it immediately. "Billy Cranston?" he repeated. "As in, Billy the Blue Aquitian Ranger?" 

Andros nodded, and from the patient bed, a hoarse voice agreed, "One of the most brilliant minds on this side of the universe." 

"Phantom?" Ashley exclaimed, following the words to their source. 

They gathered around him once more, this time with an air of hope, rather than quiet fear. He managed to sit up, but was clearly too weak to maintain the position for long. Without a word, Cassie sat beside him and put her arm behind his shoulders for support. Phantom didn't object. 

"Are you all right?" were the first words out of Andros's mouth. 

Phantom nodded, although it seemed more of an effort than it had earlier. "I will be fine." 

*Not,* Ashley noticed, *that he really answered the question…* 

"Man, you had us worried there for a while," TJ said, shaking his head at Phantom. 

"Yeah," Carlos agreed. "Don't scare us like that." Ashley wondered if he too was reliving that nightmarish time in the Power Chamber a few months back, when a scene vaguely reminiscent of this had played itself out. 

"It was not my intent to alarm you," Phantom assured them, although the concern still present on Cassie's face was mute testament to his lack of success in that respect. 

"So who's this Billy Cranston?" TJ wanted to know, after an awkward pause. 

"You do not know of him?" Phantom sounded puzzled by this news. "He was an Earth Ranger for several years." 

Surprised, Ashley looked at TJ and Carlos, but neither of them showed any signs of recognition either. "Dimitria didn't talk about the other Rangers much," she offered, trying to remember what Justin had said about prior teammates. She and her friends had been given their powers by the former Turbo team, but "Billy" hadn't been a part of it, as far as she knew. 

Phantom started to shake his head, but the way he aborted the gesture mid-movement made Ashley wonder how well he really was. "He was a Ranger under Zordon, not Dimitria. I believe he was a member of your two earliest teams." 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Carlos shrug uncomfortably. "We were recruited rather suddenly. We barely had time to learn each others' names, let alone all the Rangers' before us." 

"And it never slowed down after that," TJ added wryly. 

"I understand," Phantom said with a small nod. "Billy Cranston left Earth shortly after he gave up his Ranger status, and succeeded in making his name known on both Aquitar and Triforia." He paused, but Ashley couldn't tell if he was having trouble speaking or just couldn't decide how much they wanted to know. "He returned to Earth for a short time before leaving the planet again, this time to live on Aquitar." 

"And he's a genius?" Ashley asked, wishing they *had* had time to learn about their predecessors. They obviously led interesting lives, even outside their time as Power Rangers.

Phantom didn't reply right away, and Andros put in, "He's known for his mechanical and scientific knowledge." 

Finally, Phantom managed to nod. "He is also a remarkable diplomat. Billy negotiated the Hydro-Aquitian peace accords several years ago, and he has been instrumental in keeping Aquitar out of the current war." 

*It sounds like he knows what he's talking about,* Ashley noted. *He's either quoting some major news network, or he has some diplomatic connections himself…* 

"Which reminds me," TJ began. "Would someone please explain this war to me? All I know is that Eltare's been conquered and Zordon was captured." 

The Pink Ranger shifted slightly, and Ashley thought at first that she would speak. Then she realized that Cassie had turned a little to the side, bracing Phantom with her shoulder rather than just her arm. *He's leaning a lot heavier on her than he was a minute ago,* Ashley thought, glancing at Andros to see if he'd noticed. 

The frown on his face said he had. "I'll tell you what I know," Andros told them. "But if we go to the Bridge, I can show you how to access Interstellar News. That way you can keep up on your own if you want." 

TJ nodded. Ashley saw the look he sent in Cassie's direction, and the flash of understanding when he, too, realized that she was no longer just supporting Phantom--she was holding him up. 

"Come on, man," TJ said, clapping Carlos on the back. "Let's go learn something." 

"On summer vacation?" Carlos complained, his expression one of mock-horror. However, he too had caught the reason for Andros's suggestion, and he allowed himself to be led out of the room. 

Ashley glanced at Phantom one more time before following. He had slumped against Cassie as soon as the four of them turned to leave, and Ashley suspected that being morphed was the only thing keeping him from going catatonic. 

*Take care of him, Cassie,* she thought, preceding Andros out of the Medical bay. From the look on Cassie's face, the Pink Ranger wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon, and with a little luck, her presence alone would be enough to convince Phantom to stay put--*at least until he can stand without help,* Ashley thought. 

***

It didn't take Andros long to tell what he knew of the war. "Phantom is the one you should be asking," he said at last. "He was based on Eltare for several years, up to until a few months ago, when Dark Spectre started gathering and coordinating the forces of evil into a cohesive enough unit that they could start causing serious trouble." 

"But he said earlier that he'd been out of touch," TJ objected. 

Andros dismissed the remark with a shake of his head and a touch of sarcasm. "For Phantom, that just means he hasn't attended any interstellar strategy sessions lately. I've never known him to be more than a week behind current events, at the most." 

"So why didn't he know what our official designation was?" Carlos demanded.

Andros looked at him. "Did *you* know?" he asked pointedly. 

Carlos shrugged, exchanging glances with Ashley. For some inexplicable reason, she covered her mouth and tilted her head down so she was staring at the floor. When Andros looked over at her, he saw repressed laughter on her face, and he wondered what he'd missed this time.

Shooting a covert glance in TJ's direction, Andros noted the Blue Ranger's puzzlement with relief. TJ apparently hadn't caught the joke either. 

"No, I didn't know," Carlos admitted after a moment, once Ashley had managed to compose herself. He returned his attention to Andros, who decided to ignore the incident entirely. 

"DECA, are communications still being jammed?" he asked, counting on the onboard computer system having overheard their earlier conversation with Phantom on the Bridge. 

"No, Andros," DECA replied. "Shortly after their arrival, the Aquitians Rangers deactivated the jamming field." 

Unsurprised, Andros said only, "Send our thanks." He made a mental note to speak with the Blue Aquitian Ranger later, when they weren't so pressed for time. Now, though, he was already busy at the station Ashley usually supervised. Odd how he had started to associate places with certain members of the team, despite their relatively short time on the Megaship.

"This is how you access IN," he said over his shoulder, and the others gathered around the station as well to peer at the console in front of him. Andros took them through the basic steps of logging onto the news network, then stepped back and let them try it on their own. It wasn't difficult; it had simply never occurred to him that they wouldn't know how to do it, and none of the Rangers had ever asked. 

"DECA," he said, watching Ashley play with the settings on the screen. "Set the scanners still calibrated for long range to start scanning for interdimensional energy signatures." Zordon, and others who were not entirely of this dimension, were easily detectable through the distortion their presence caused in the space-time continuum. The distortion was maskable, of course--but if Zordon was in transit, whatever shielding Dark Spectre had around him would be temporary and possibly incomplete. 

"Yes, Andros," DECA acknowledged. 

Andros crossed to the auxiliary scanner controls, intending to add to the preprogrammed search parameters. Zordon's dimensional distortion was the most obvious thing to scan for, but Phantom had mentioned that the Eltaran had been under Divatox's guard when he was taken from Hercuron. He augmented the scanners' search with instructions to flag any indication of Divatox's army and alert the Rangers to it, as DECA would alert them if any trace of Zordon was detected. 

Suddenly aware of someone's presence at his shoulder, he looked up. *I must be getting used to them,* Andros thought, *if I didn't even hear her come up behind me.* 

He turned toward Ashley, who was staring curiously at the console. "You're adjusting the scanners," she observed. "Why? I heard you tell DECA to scan for Zordon already." 

"DECA knows what to look for when I ask her to scan for Zordon," Andros explained, leaning back against the console to give himself a little extra space. Ashley had a tendency to stand too close, and now that he didn't have to imagine what it would feel like to hold her, it was more distracting than ever. "After what Phantom told us, though, I figured the scanners should look for Divatox's ships as well." 

Ashley nodded slowly. "Yeah…" She looked over her shoulder before asking softly, "Do you really think we're going to find him?" 

"Zordon?" Andros looked at her in surprise. He'd never seen Ashley doubtful--she was one of the most relentlessly cheery people he knew. 

She nodded again, folding her arms. The gesture made her look suddenly smaller, and at first Andros didn't know what to say. "I don't know," he told her after a moment of studying her. "But I have to believe we will--maybe not this time, but soon." 

Ashley stared back at him, considering his words. Disconcerted once again, this time by her direct gaze, he had to force himself not to look away. At last, she started to smile--the same bright smile she had used on him at breakfast that had nearly made him drop his glass. 

"Thanks, Andros," she said quietly. "You're right, of course--sometimes it just makes me feel better to hear it, you know?" 

He managed a quick smile in response, but her innocent comment evoked thoughts of his own private search, begun long before the war had started. He hadn't had anyone to tell him he would succeed, to urge him on when he felt like giving up. *I didn't have anyone at all,* Andros remembered, not sure how to feel about the memory. 

He *did* know that he could no longer imagine going back to that life, without the other Rangers--without Ashley. It scared him to think that once he had been strong enough to live like that, when he knew he would miss their companionship now if he had to do it again. 

Ashley's hand on his shoulder startled him out of his reverie. He looked up, and fought the instinct to distrust the kindness in her eyes. *She cares,* he thought, as amazed now as he had been the day before when her lips had touched his. 

"What is it?" Ashley whispered. 

For once, he answered without thinking. "When did I start liking you so much?" Andros wondered aloud, and saw her brown eyes soften. 

"I like you too," she murmured, sliding her arm through his and leaning into him. "Very much." 

TJ's voice intruded on the moment. "Hey, guys! Check this out!" 

Andros glanced over his shoulder to see Carlos and TJ peering intently at the screen. Ashley sighed, and as he turned back to her, he saw her roll her eyes in TJ's direction. Uncertain, he caught her gaze and shrugged. 

Her annoyance melted into a smile, and she tugged on his arm. Glad he didn't have to let go just yet, Andros let her pull him across the Bridge to where TJ and Carlos stood. 

"Someone was more observant than we thought," Carlos said, eyes still on the screen. 

"Or just lucky," TJ commented. 

Arm still linked through Ashley's, Andros noted with bemusement the logo in the corner of the screen. Nothing he was familiar with--*an Earth program,* he thought as understanding dawned. *Forty-two interstellar news channels, and they watch a national program from Earth.* 

The reporter seemed to be announcing, of all things, a Power Ranger sighting. "--this footage was caught on home video at Angel Grove lake this morning." 

Her image was replaced by a sky shot, probably intended to catch the hawk soaring past overhead. Then the camera skewed suddenly, and a technicolored smear darted past the lens. A half-second later, the colors were back as the operator managed to focus and follow the motion as it arced across the sky. Five individual blurs were distinguishable, and if one knew what to look for, it wasn't hard to pick out the stylized water molecule pattern of each color. 

They were gone in seconds, rendered invisible among the trees on the north side of the lake. The camera operator attempted to zoom in on their location, but got nothing except the fading glow of rematerialization as it shone briefly through the vegetation. 

"It's a good thing they came morphed," Carlos remarked, turning the volume down as the reporter replaced the lake view on the screen. 

"Standard procedure now," Andros said absently, watching the news program flash what must be old footage of the Aquitian Rangers. "The Rangers are the ones on the front lines in the war, so teleportation to any involved planet, even one so far on the fringes as this one, is done morphed." 

TJ gave him a look, possibly for the "fringes" comment, but said only, "Well, it's a good thing. If we'd been a little closer to the water…" 

Suddenly aware of the concern coming from both TJ and Carlos, Andros looked away from the news program. "What do you mean?" 

"Well, they're pretty recognizable," Ashley tried to explain. "If that camera had seen them seen them unmorphed, there wouldn't be much doubt about who the new Rangers are." 

Remembering the rule of secret identities that seemed so prevalent on Earth, Andros began to understand their fear. "The Aquitian Rangers don't hide their identities. They won't mind your people knowing who they are." 

"Our people?" Ashley murmured, turning to look at him. 

At the same time, TJ said, "I thought one of the conditions of being a Power Ranger was that no one know who you are." 

Not certain how to respond to Ashley's questioning glance, Andros looked at TJ instead. "Only on worlds where the inhabitants are…" Not sure how to avoid offending them, he paused. "Sheltered," he said at last. 

He could practically hear Ashley raise her eyebrow, but she said nothing. Carlos, on the other hand, repeated, "Sheltered?" 

"Or where the Rangers are particularly young," he added quickly, but that didn't seem to help.

"Young?" TJ echoed. 

"Did people on KO-35 know you were a Ranger?" Ashley wanted to know, and this time he was grateful for her diversion. 

With a quick shrug, Andros replied, "It's hard to hide something like that in a colony of only about three thousand people." 

Distracted, Carlos muttered, "Try Angel Grove. You never notice how curious people are until you have something you don't want them to know…" 

"Most Rangers' identities are known to the people they protect," Andros told them. "Even if they're not active, every League world has a team to call upon if they're needed, and usually everyone knows who they are." 

"Earth didn't," Carlos pointed out. "The Power Rangers never appeared until Rita Repulsa attacked." 

Andros tried not to sigh. "Earth *did*," he insisted. "Just because they had never morphed before doesn't mean they weren't Power Rangers. They didn't even have to know it themselves--they had the right skills, honor, and discipline, and they came when they were called. They would have been Rangers even if Earth had never had need of them." 

"Anomaly detected," DECA announced, effectively ending the conversation. "One of Divatox's ships has been located in sector 439." 

Andros moved over to the scanner controls, shutting off the news channel and switching to long-range scanner display. "Any sign of space-time distortion?" he asked, as a magnified and slightly fuzzy image of the ship in question appeared on the main screen. 

Computer enhancement sharpened the image, and DECA replied, "No, Andros. Effects of interdimensional existence are negative." 

*Masked,* Andros thought immediately, even though he knew it wasn't the mostly likely explanation. If Zordon were being moved, he would have a considerable escort. Even if Dark Spectre were going for subtly over strength--which he had never been known to do before--he wouldn't leave a single ship to make the transfer without a much better armament and shielding capacity than this one displayed. 

"DECA. Set a course for sector 439." Andros ignored the skeptical looks of the others, instead concentrating on the engine preflight sequence. 

"Andros," Ashley began. "If Zordon is on that ship, wouldn't it have some kind of guard around it?" 

He nodded without looking up. "I doubt we'll find Zordon there. But Divatox keeps her people under tight control--if one of her ships is in sector 439 alone, it's probably on a reconnaissance mission. The others won't be far away." 

The silence said that she hadn't thought of that. *Someone needs to teach them something about space,* Andros thought for the hundredth time. But when they weren't fighting, it didn't seem important, and when they were fighting, there wasn't time. 

"I'll go tell Cassie," TJ volunteered. 

DECA's camera blinked. "I have already informed Cassie of the situation." 

Andros only shook his head. *I shouldn't have let Phantom near the computer last time he was onboard,* he thought wryly. 

The automated preflight flashed an OK signal at him, and he moved up to the pilot's console. Keying the thruster controls, he accelerated the Megaship slowly out of its Earth orbit and into the interplanetary space beyond. As they headed past the moon, he pushed the thrusters to full, feeling them strain against the sun's gravity. 

He sensed Ashley at his shoulder again, and tried to remember when they had stepped apart. He hadn't noticed, although now that she was back, he didn't know how that prior emptiness had gone unremarked. 

Andros smiled at the enthralled expression on her face as she stared at the forward screen, now showing a realtime image of the stars. It was a sight he had seen many times before--indeed, so had she--but watching through her eyes, he felt a new wonder flood through him. 

Jupiter turned peacefully in the upper lefthand corner, growing larger with every second. Four distinguishable moons hung silently still about the red-gold bauble, caught midrevolution as they climbed or fell around the ringed gas giant. Beyond, Saturn had become a recognizable point of light against the otherwise static background of stars. 

"DECA," Andros said at last, reluctant to spoil her view but aware of the time passing as they stood and stared. "Hyperush three." 

"Hyperush three," DECA acknowledged, and Andros moved away from the controls. 

Gesturing Ashley into his place, he asked, "Will you take us out?" 

She shot a surprised look in his direction. He saw the surprise fade as she realized what he was asking, and delight took its place. Stepping forward, Ashley put both hands on the engine controls and drew them back simultaneously. The exterior cameras failed as the Megaship reached, then passed, lightspeed, and a computer-generated simulation of starlines took the place of realtime images. They were on their way.

_fin_


	5. Transition

_Disclaimer: 1) These are Saban's characters, 2) I am not making any money here, and 3) Two words: suspend disbelief :)_

**Transition  
by Starhawk**

The Medical bay was as close to silent as any place on the Megaship ever got. The ever-present hiss of the air recyclers seemed muted, and the hum of life support systems that kept the ship warm was least intrusive in the patient ward. 

Thanks to the quiet stillness, Cassie could plainly hear the thrum of the engines as they came online. *We're moving out of Earth orbit,* she thought, glancing instinctively toward a nonexistent window. 

Without visual cues, she could only wait for the subtle shift in the vibration of the deck that would tell her the switch from thruster to engine power had occurred. As soon as it came, DECA's voice returned to the Medical bay to announce, "Hyperush three." 

Cassie attempted a smile. "Thanks, DECA," she said, and the camera flashed once at her before going dark again. 

*We're off after Zordon again,* she mused, gaze returning to the prone form on the patient bed. *You've been looking for him for months, and we're supposed to find him in a couple of days?* 

*Months…* Had it really been only months since she'd last seen him? *It felt like years,* Cassie thought, staring at the figure lying before her. He hadn't even said goodbye the last time, leaving only a recorded message that asked her not to forget him. 

At first, the words had cheered her, and she had asked DECA to upload the message to the terminal in her room. As the weeks went by without word, however, she had started to worry. 

She knew he was, by nature, a loner, even as she had been before she'd met TJ and become a part of the Ranger team. But his message had seemed to indicate that he would be in touch eventually, and she knew how badly injured he had been. As time passed, increasing concern for his well-being plagued her thoughts and even began to affect her dreams. 

*Don't you understand how hard it is to not know?* she demanded silently, knowing she could never be so harsh to him when he was awake. Now, though, she couldn't repress the anger that his apparent carelessness caused. 

*Do you have any idea how many times I tried to sleep and couldn't, because I was afraid I'd see you like this in my dreams? Defeated or dead, or injured too severely to call for help?* 

She continued to rail against him within the privacy of her own mind until she felt a little calmer. Gazing at him with less antipathy, Cassie shivered suddenly. It scared her sometimes, how much his absence affected her. 

"Why are you so important to me?" she wondered aloud, her voice a whisper. "I barely even know you…" 

From the day she'd first caught a glimpse of him--invisible, yet somehow reflected for her eyes only in a mirror--she knew he would change her life. She hadn't understood how, or why, but there had been no denying the connection between them. 

*Why?* she asked again, the question directed at herself rather than him this time. *Who *is* Phantom? Would I even recognize him if I saw him without his armor?* 

Logically, she knew she wouldn't--she couldn't; he had never demorphed around her or her friends. But there was a part of her heart that insisted that the answer was yes, she would know him anywhere, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't ignore that feeling. 

Lost in thought, she would have missed the sudden twitch of his fingers if she hadn't been staring directly at him. "Phantom?" she inquired softly, leaning forward to take his hand. 

At first he didn't reply, and she wondered if the movement had been her imagination. Then, slowly, he turned his head toward her. "I'm sorry, Cassie," he whispered. His voice sounded choked, but not particularly sleepy. "I'm sorry this had to happen." 

Her grip tightened at the pain in his voice, though she didn't understand its source. She had the distinct impression that he wasn't referring to the circumstances that had brought him to the Megaship's Medical bay. 

"What?" she asked, sympathy and curiosity fighting for expression in her tone. "Sorry what had to happen?" 

She waited, but no answer seemed forthcoming. *He started this,* she thought, feeling her earlier frustration returning. *It's not like I asked something he didn't want to answer--he answered a question I didn't hear.* 

"You don't have to talk to me," she said, trying to be as gentle as she could. "But I'm listening, and I do care." 

He stared at her for what seemed an interminably long period of time. Then, turning his head away, he repeated, "I'm sorry." 

Cassie sighed inwardly. *Don't be sorry,* she thought at him. *Just tell me what's going on!* 

She had not thought to hear him speak again, but after a moment, he said, almost inaudibly, "It wasn't supposed to be like this." 

This time, she said nothing. Her curiosity was screaming at her to ask, but in the end, silence seemed to produce better results than anything else. Cassie shifted on her stool and waited. 

Finally, Phantom looked back at her. "You asked why I was so important to you." 

Startled, she bit her lip to keep from exclaiming. *That's the last time I assume he's asleep,* she promised herself. 

His next words drove that concern from her head. "You are important to me, as well," he said, voice quiet. "More important even than my own life, and you have been so since the day we met." 

Cassie had no idea how to answer that, except with joy and amazed relief at the words she had never stopped hoping to hear. But she could vocalize neither feeling, so, after a violent struggle to get her emotions under control, she managed to ask simply, "How is that a *bad* thing?" 

"My people--" his voice was strained, as though he were forcing himself to say the words. "We love for life. We bond with our partner at first sight; a recognition that none of us truly understand, but no one can deny. 

"For some, there is an empathic link as well, which is probably the source of your feelings. I would--" he swallowed, and she felt his gloved fingers convulse beneath hers. "I would end it, for your sake, if I could. But I cannot." 

Cassie found herself speechless for the third time in as many minutes. "Empathic link?" she stammered at last, incapable of anything more coherent. 

He gave a short nod, expression hidden behind his visor. "Some partners can sense each other's feelings. It is stronger the closer they are to one another." 

"You mean--like ESP?" Cassie focused on the one part of his explanation that he seemed to be able to discuss without distress. 

"You do not question Andros's telekinesis," he retorted, and she blinked. She'd never heard him defensive before. 

"I'm just trying to understand," she protested, standing for a moment to nudge her stool a little closer to the bed. "You think I feel this way about you because of some… link we have?" 

"Recognition is not a common thing outside of my people," Phantom told her, his voice growing quieter again. "The blame, therefore, is mine. And I fear my own feelings have influenced yours to a greater degree than I would have expected." 

"What?" Cassie exclaimed, still on her feet. She let go of his hand to fold her arms over her chest. "Let me get this straight. Each of your people has some kind of connection with the person they're going to fall in love with, so that they know each other as soon as they meet?" 

She didn't wait for his confirmation, just plunged ahead, all of her frustration freeing itself in the form of anger toward Phantom. "And you think that because I'm human, I'm not worthy of this connection and it's all you. And on top of that, you assume I can't have any feelings of my own, and those are yours too!" 

She stopped, suddenly realizing that she was shouting at him. It was exactly what she had promised herself she wouldn't do--he was too fragile right now, and he didn't deserve her reproof even when he was well. *Not that he even cares,* she thought bitterly, remembering his plan to leave while she and the others were on Earth. 

The seconds stretched out, and Cassie found herself glaring down at him. Shaking her head abruptly, she looked away, ashamed of her outburst. 

"Cassie." His voice, soft as it was, got her attention. She turned, almost involuntarily, back toward him. "I did not mean to imply that you are somehow inferior to my people. I only meant that there is no reason for you to feel anything for me, except for what I have unknowingly projected onto you." 

"Why not?" she demanded. "Why can't I love you for my own reasons?" 

She was reacting, not thinking, and the words were out before she had time to consider what they meant. Once released, though, they seemed to echo throughout the room, and her eyes widened as she realized what she'd said. 

Cassie suffered through the long pause, wondering if she should take the word back or let it remain unaltered. *It was just because we were arguing,* she rationalized. *Or at least, I was arguing. It was just a rhetorical question…* 

But it wasn't. She knew it, and though the strength of her feelings frightened her, she knew they were *her* feelings. Which only left the question of why *he* didn't seem to believe it… 

"Because I don't deserve it," he whispered finally. "I am to you an alien, a Ranger without a team, without a purpose in life except for you. You are not one of my people, and as such there is no reason that my recognizing you implies any return affection on your part. I can come up with no reason for your feelings, except that they are a reflection of my own." 

"Can you tell what I'm feeling now?" Cassie asked suddenly, determined to end this empathic link theory of his. 

After a few seconds of consideration, he shook his head once. "No. I can not." 

Reseating herself on the stool, she shrugged at him. "I can't tell what you're feeling, either. You said empathy means we should be able to, right? And it works best over short distances--we can't get much closer than this. So…" 

She trailed off, assuming it wasn't necessary to explain where she was going with *that* train of thought. He said nothing for a few moments, but the entire conversation had been somewhat staggered, so she simply sat forward and watched him while she waited for him to work through what seemed perfect logic to her. 

Either he agreed, or he was willing to be convinced, because he lifted a hand toward her. His movement tentative, probably not certain how she'd react, he reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. Though their skin didn't touch, Cassie caught her breath, closing her eyes for a split-second. 

When she opened them again, he was still staring at her, his hand half-raised as though he couldn't quite decide what to do with it now. She captured it with both of hers and held tight, giving him what she suspected was a somewhat dreamy smile. "My feelings are my own," she assured him, in case he still had any doubt. "And…" She couldn't quite bring herself to repeat the word she'd used earlier. "I care for you very much." 

"And I you," he murmured. 

They stayed that way for several long minutes, silence speaking what neither of them could say yet. Finally, she felt him relaxing, and she lowered his hand so that he could sleep more comfortably. Cassie herself settled back on her stool to continue her vigil, with a lighter and far more joyful heart. 

***

"Hey, Carlos!" TJ's voice, muffled by inch-thick steel and concurrent with a loud rap on the door, woke Carlos out of a restless doze. 

"Just a minute," he mumbled, rolling off his bunk and standing up. It took a moment to reorient himself--he wasn't used to napping in the middle of the day, and it played havoc with his internal clock. 

Pushing his hair out of his face, Carlos went to the door and keyed it open. TJ stood there, full of his usual energy and looking so animated that Carlos wondered if it were possible to grow more tired simply by looking at such a person. 

Taking in his expression and general disheveled look, TJ raised his eyebrows. "Man, were you sleeping?" 

Carlos nodded. "Yeah…" Rubbing his eyes, he asked rhetorically, "Whose idea was it to stay up talking last night, anyway?" 

"Yours," his friend teased. "Come on--you want to get some lunch?" 

As he stretched, Carlos couldn't help but smile at TJ's unflagging enthusiasm. "Sure," he agreed, running a hand through his hair again in an attempt to smooth the tangles out of it. "Just give me a second." 

He ducked back into his room and retrieved an elastic from his bureau. Pulling his hair into a ponytail, he twined the elastic around it and grabbed his uniform jacket. He tossed the jacket over his shoulders and rejoined TJ in the corridor. 

"I already asked Cassie," TJ told him as he shoved his arms through the sleeves. Starting down the hallway, TJ continued, "She said she'd eat later." 

They exchanged a knowing look. "I suppose 'later' won't be until Phantom is better," Carlos remarked. 

TJ shook his head. "She has to eat. If she doesn't have lunch, I'll take her a sandwich or something later this afternoon." 

"No one really needs to stay with him, do they?" Carlos asked, wondering if there was more to this than Cassie's obvious infatuation with Phantom. "I mean, DECA's keeping an eye on him, and it's not like he's awake or anything, right?" 

TJ shrugged. "Actually, Cassie says he woke up earlier. She thinks it's been a long time since he slept for more than a few hours in a row, and she's worried he'll be disoriented if he keeps waking up in an unfamiliar environment." 

Carlos was impressed in spite of himself. Cassie was a good friend, and he had always respected her, but when it came to Phantom, she acted like a kid with her first crush. This time, though, he conceded that she might have thought, rather than just feeling. 

*Thought more than the rest of us, at least,* he thought ruefully. *It never occurred to me that he could be so burned out that he might not know where he is, but it's possible…* 

As they approached the Bridge, Carlos could hear muffled voices drifting through the open doors of the Megaship's nerve center. Neither Andros nor Ashley was visible from the hallway, however, and they must have been at enough of an angle to the doors that their words didn't carry around the corner clearly enough to discern. 

He wondered suddenly what they found to talk about. Andros had never struck him as a very good conversationalist--being alone in space for however long probably did that to a person. Ashley, on the other hand, loved to talk, and somehow he couldn't imagine her and Andros having the same kinds of discussions Carlos remembered having with her. 

His ruminations lasted only seconds, but it was long enough to carry him and TJ onto the Bridge and within range of the conversation. Being able to overhear their words, however, didn't make the subject any clearer. 

Ashley sat next to the auxiliary scanner controls, in almost exactly the same place and position Carlos had seen her in when he had left more than an hour ago. Andros, his back to the scanner readouts, was leaning against the console. "It's only because you don't concentrate hard enough," he was saying as TJ and Carlos walked in. 

"I *do* concentrate," Ashley insisted, clearly confused about something. 

Andros saw them first, and Ashley broke off, following his gaze toward the door. "Hi Carlos, TJ," she greeted them cheerily, her earlier puzzlement melting into a smile. 

"Hey, guys," TJ returned, lounging against the doorway. "You up for some lunch?" 

Ashley and Andros looked at each other, their hesitation obvious. "We'll join you in a few minutes," Ashley said at last, still watching Andros. 

He nodded, and she turned back to Carlos and TJ, an apologetic look on her face. "Andros is just trying to explain something to me…" 

She trailed off, reluctant to elaborate, and Carlos waved it away. "No problem," he assured her. He tried not to be hurt by her obvious wish that her conversation with Andros remain private. "Whenever you're done." 

"Thanks," Ashley said, giving him a relieved smile. "We'll be right there." 

Carlos could take a hint, and TJ pushed himself away from the wall and swung out into the corridor beside him. The short walk to the Glider holding bay was silent, but Carlos was too preoccupied to notice. *There was a time when Ashley and I told each other everything,* he thought, the image of her and Andros staring into each others' eyes still firmly embedded in his mind. 

As they entered the holding bay, TJ put out a hand to stop him. "Hey, man," he said, when Carlos looked at him in surprise. "Are you all right?" 

There was real concern in TJ's voice, and Carlos wondered if he had been that obvious. "Sure," he said, smiling and trying to dismiss his feeling of abandonment. 

"It's kind of weird, seeing them together," TJ said, apparently unwilling to let the issue go. "I know you and her are closer than the rest of us…" 

If it had been anyone but a fellow Ranger, Carlos would have told them to mind their own business. But he knew TJ was only trying to make sure he was all right, and Carlos appreciated it. Unfortunately, that didn't make it any easier to voice his thoughts. 

"I don't know," he said, shrugging uncomfortably. He tried not to sigh. "I guess I feel like I'm losing my best friend." 

The moment the words were out, he knew how forlorn they sounded. He wished he could take them back, knowing TJ would just say something about how he wouldn't lose her friendship just because she was interested in someone else. Under other circumstances, Carlos might say the same thing to someone else--but when he was the one in the situation, the phrase sounded hollow. 

To his surprise, TJ just nodded. "I know what you mean," his friend agreed. Carlos looked at him, not following--until he remembered TJ saying "I already asked Cassie…" 

*We're both the odd ones out, here,* Carlos realized, seeing past Andros and Ashley for the first time since he had left them alone on the Bridge the day before. *I've been a little self-centered,* he admitted to himself. 

They each regarded the other with sympathy, until TJ finally grinned. "Well, if we're going to be left on our own every time we turn around, we might as well have something to eat." 

His good humor was infectious, and Carlos chuckled. "There's no reason we should miss lunch, just because everyone else is." 

"My thoughts exactly," TJ agreed, heading over to the Synthetron. 

***

Ashley felt a twinge of guilt as she watched her friend leave. They had rarely hidden things from each other, but for some reason, she didn't want anyone to know what Andros was trying to teach her. 

With a sigh, she turned back to Andros. "Maybe I just can't learn telekinesis," she said, somewhat discouraged. He'd been helping her for months now, and she wasn't any closer than she had been when she started. 

"You can," Andros promised. "It's hard at first, but it just takes practice. I started learning when I was five, and it *still* took me longer than you've been doing it." 

"When you were five?" she repeated, surprised. "Why so young?" 

He shrugged, his gaze wandering away across the Bridge. "I don't know, really; that's just the way it is. Was," he corrected, and she winced at the shadow of pain that flitted across his face when he mentioned his abandoned homeworld. 

"What happened to KO-35?" Ashley asked softly, not sure he would answer but wanting him to know she cared. 

He looked down, shaking his head. His long hair was still loose, though less tousled than it had been when he raced into the Glider bay this morning, and it shielded his face from view. 

"I'm sorry," she apologized immediately. "I didn't mean…" Aware that anything she said might make things worse, she didn't know how to finish the sentence. 

Andros looked over at her, and his disconsolate expression made her sorry she had asked. *He looks like that too often,* she thought, only then realizing how long it had been since she had seen that sadness on his face. *And I had to go and bring it up again…* 

"It's all right," he said, drawing in a deep breath. "It's just--I've never talked to anyone about it."

"You don't have to tell me," she assured him, though she hoped he wouldn't back out of it now. 

Staring directly at her, he asked, "Do you want to know?" 

Ashley nodded without hesitation. "Please." 

He took her at her word, for which she was grateful. "The colony on KO-35 had only been there five years before it was attacked," Andros told her, though he was no longer meeting her eyes. "We were of little significance politically, not part of the mainstream--much like your Earth. We expected to be pretty much left alone." 

He was reciting, she realized, watching his impassive expression. He stared off into the distance, telling the story as though it had happened to someone else. "For whatever reason, we weren't. Our Rangers were young and completely untried--no one thought we'd be needed. We had had some training, but we weren't called to join the defense when the assault began." 

Andros looked at her for the first time, and she could see the pain the memory caused leaking out of his heart and into his eyes. "We were only children," he said, a pleading note in his voice. "And we were short a Ranger--no one ever replaced Kerone after…" 

Ashley stood up, unable to watch him suffer anymore. "I'm sorry," she murmured, stepping closer and touching his arm. When he didn't object, she drew him into a gentle embrace. 

He didn't return the hug, but he seemed to appreciate the comfort. She just held him, stroking his hair and letting him regain his composure. She could feel him beginning to breathe more evenly, and she closed her eyes, smiling to herself. 

Suddenly, he pulled away. "I'm sorry, Ashley… I didn't mean--" 

When he stopped, she cocked her head curiously. "What?" 

He hesitated. Then, in a rush, he said, "I like being with you. I like watching you look out at the stars, and see their beauty instead of their potential for danger. But I'm not like that--I *see* the danger, because it's happened to me." 

"So?" she asked, when he didn't continue. "Andros, I've been in danger plenty of times. That's what being a Ranger is about. But for me, it's also about forgetting that part when I can, and enjoying the rest of my life." 

He shook his head again. "I never forget," Andros told her quietly. 

She didn't know how to respond to that. She could only think that it had to be a hard way to live, and she wished she could take some of that burden away from him. 

Andros must have taken her silence the wrong way, for he turned away and walked the few steps to the navigator's station. Back to her, he put his hands on the edge of the control panel and stared down at it. "We're too different," she heard him whisper. 

Ashley had no idea what he was talking about, but he was obviously upset. She abandoned her own position, and, without a second thought, joined him next to Carlos's station. 

"Andros?" Putting a hand on his shoulder, she tried to catch a glimpse of his expression. "Andros, what are you saying?" 

He didn't move. "I'm saying that you're the friendliest, kindest, most cheerful person I've ever met. I'm not like that." Finally, he looked up at her. "It's never bothered me before." 

She didn't want him to think she was mocking him, but she couldn't help the laugh that escaped. "Why should it bother you now?" Ashley inquired, smiling at him. 

When he didn't reply, she tugged on his shoulder. He didn't move at first, just looked at her with an uncertain expression on his face. Then, reluctantly, he let go of the console and straightened, turning to face her. 

"Andros," she began, her hand sliding off his shoulder to rest on his elbow. "I like you the way you *are*. I'm sorry for what's happened to you, and I would take your pain away if I could. But you're here now because of it, and that's one thing I would *not* change." 

Almost unwillingly, the beginnings of a smile appeared on his face. "I wouldn't change it, either," he told her at last, and she squeezed his arm affectionately. 

"Good," Ashley said, satisfied. She was about to ask if he wanted to go have lunch, but the serious look in his eyes stopped her just in time. 

"Can I--" He gaze flickered to her hand on his arm before returning to her face, and the uncertain look was back. "Can I kiss you?" 

She smiled up at him. "You don't have to ask," she said, heart racing as she leaned closer to him. His arm slid around her shoulders, and his lips were warm on hers as she closed her eyes. Then the moment was over, and she couldn't help the sigh that escaped as she looked at him. 

He looked back, not speaking, and all she could think was that she wanted that moment back, to keep forever if possible. Screwing up her courage, Ashley drew him close once more and gave him another quick kiss. 

When she pulled away, searching his eyes for a reaction, she was relieved to see him smile. "Thanks," Ashley whispered, not sure whether she was thanking him for the kiss or just for being there. 

"You're welcome, I guess," he answered, the smile still on his face. 

She laughed. Before she could reply, though, DECA interjected, "The Megaship is approaching sector 439." 

"Thanks, DECA," Andros said, not taking his eyes off Ashley. 

She sighed again. "What do we do now?" 

Though she had meant it in reference to Divatox and her army, the glint in Andros's eye told her he had taken it differently. "You could promise to meet me later, if we don't get a chance to finish this conversation," he suggested. His tone was shy, at odds with the expression of mischief on his face. 

Ashley had to laugh. "Deal," she said, holding out her hand. He took it, and they shook on it solemnly. 

Then, letting go, Andros went to her station and began to play with the scanner controls, returning to her original question as though nothing had happened. "First, we have to try and locate the rest of Divatox's ships. They're probably here somewhere, and if we follow that ship blindly, we could walk right into a trap." 

"If the other ships *are* here," Ashley pointed out, joining him at the scanners, "won't they see us coming?" She tried to get the memory of that elusive grin of his out of her mind and concentrate on the task at hand. 

Andros nodded, glancing over at her. "That's why I want to find them as soon as possible. If they have Zordon, they'll be watching for us, especially if Astronema has reported to Dark Spectre already. They'll know we're not on Earth anymore." 

"Andros." DECA's calm voice intruded once more. "The ship currently being pursued is emitting an interdimensional energy signal." 

"What?" Far from looking pleased, Andros seemed troubled. "Why didn't we detect it before?" 

He returned his gaze to the scanners, and his frown deepened. "I'm not picking up anything." 

"The signal is no longer being emitted," DECA replied. "It appears to be intermittent." 

"Which would explain why we didn't notice it before," Ashley said hopefully. 

Andros shook his head, and she could hear his trademark phrase coming. He didn't disappoint her. "Something's not right here." 

He looked her way again as she muffled a giggle. "What?" 

"It's nothing." She tried to wave it away, but he didn't seem inclined to let it go. "You always say that, that's all," Ashley explained, feeling a smile threaten to engulf her face again. 

Andros didn't seem to understand, but DECA saved her from having to elaborate. "Another ship has been detected," she told them, and something on the scanner console began to flash. "It is also showing signs of an interdimensional distortion." 

"They can't *both* be Zordon," Ashley said, baffled. 

"*Neither* of them are Zordon," Andros corrected, glaring at the scanners as though they were offensive to him. "DECA, show this sector of space on the main screen and superimpose locations of any ships the scanners can detect." 

The computer-generated simulation of faster than light travel disappeared, to be replaced by a tactical map of sector 439. The Megaship's position was represented by a green triangle, while red circles meant unknown or hostile ships. Two blinking red dots appeared immediately, relatively close to each other. As Ashley watched, though, another red dot appeared farther away, and then another, and another, this last one clear on the other side of the sector. 

"That's Divatox's army," Andros said grimly, as dot after dot flickered into existence on the screen. Here and there, two or more dots would be grouped together, but most were solitary pixels, slowly making their way across the screen. 

"I don't understand." Ashley found herself at a loss. "What does she gain from this?" 

"DECA," Andros said. "Whenever you pick up interdimensional distortion, circle the ship it's coming from." 

DECA's camera blinked in acknowledgement, and a purple circle appeared around each of the first two red dots. Then another purple ring encircled a ship on the other side of the map. Another formed around a trio of ships in the lower right hand corner of the screen. More slowly than the red dots, but just as unstoppably, the purple circles crept across the screen. 

"They're *all* distorting space-time?" Ashley exclaimed, watching the progression. 

Andros shook his head. "No. But that's what Divatox wants us to think." 

That sentence echoed in Ashley's mind for a moment before it sunk in. "She's hidden him in plain sight," she realized, as another purple circle blinked into existence on the screen. "*That* could be Zordon, and we'd never know." 

"She's solved the problem of shielding rather well," Andros agreed. "DECA, slow us down to thruster power, but don't disengage the engines." 

"The Megaship is decelerating," DECA announced. 

Staring at all those red dots, something occurred to Ashley. "Is it a good idea to just fly into the middle of Divatox's forces like this? Even if they are spread out?" 

Andros shrugged. She hid a grin; that was a typical Andros reaction. *Just charge right in, and if something gets in your way, negotiate it *out* of your way. Or hit it,* she added, acknowledging that there were some--quantrons and the like--who wouldn't be moved by his streaked hair and irresistible smile. 

"They have no reason to come after us," Andros pointed out, jolting her out of her contemplation. "The Megaship is a match for any of those ships alone, and even if they team up against us, there's the possibility of their capture. 

"All we would need is one person, or quantron, willing to give out a few details of whatever they're using to create interdimensional distortion, and we might be able to figure out how to distinguish that from the real thing. Their primary mission has to be to keep Zordon away from us, and the best way to do that is to stay away from us themselves and let us wander around the sector without a clue." 

"*What*?" TJ's voice demanded from the doorway. 

"It's about time you two showed up," Ashley commented, turning around with a smile to soften her words. "We arrived five minutes ago." 

"Well, if the onboard computer didn't hold a grudge," TJ complained, giving DECA's camera the evil eye as he and Carlos joined them at the scanner console, "we could have *been* here five minutes ago." 

"The first we heard anything had happened was when DECA announced the deceleration," Carlos confirmed when Ashley looked at him. 

"DECA," Andros reproved, the scolding undermined by his amused expression. "Please let the other Rangers know when we enter an area of space filled with enemy ships." 

"Yes, Andros," DECA answered, her tone slightly subdued. 

"Speaking of 'other Rangers'," Ashley remarked, looking around, "where's Cassie? I thought she'd be having lunch too." 

She didn't miss the look Carlos and TJ exchanged, but she didn't know what it meant, either. "Cassie's in the Medical bay," TJ explained. "She told me she'd eat later." 

"Should I go tell her where we are?" Carlos asked, looking in DECA's direction. 

"Cassie has been informed of the situation," DECA told them. 

"Yeah," TJ muttered. "And I'll bet she was informed when it *happened*, too." 

The light on DECA's camera flashed, but she did not deny the accusation. Ashley shook her head, putting a hand over her mouth to hide her smile. *When did this rivalry TJ has with DECA start?* she wondered, trying to call to mind some incident that might have started it, and failing. 

Just then, the lift doors slid open to reveal Cassie. "Hey," she said, coming onto the Bridge with far too light a step for one who had been sitting in a patient ward for the last few hours. "DECA said I should come to the Bridge?" 

TJ threw his hands up in the air. "I am *telling* you, that computer has a distinct predilection for some people…" 

This time, Andros ignored him, his attention on Cassie. "How's Phantom?" he asked apprehensively, and Ashley reminded herself to ask how those two had met sometime. 

Cassie shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest and joining the cluster around the scanners. "He seems to be all right. He's sleeping again now, but he did wake up earlier, and he was very--" She smiled, and her eyes went distant. "--coherent." 

Ashley made another note to ask what *that* was about later. It struck her, then, that they all had far more secrets than they used to, and she wondered about it as Andros started to explain the implications of the tactical map still stretched across the screen. 

Looking at TJ, his focus on Andros's explanation and his eyes studying the screen, she remembered him as the Red Ranger. He had never been anything but honest, with himself and with everyone else. And Carlos-- 

Shifting her gaze to her best friend, she knew he hadn't changed. He was the same warm, open guy she had known since elementary school. He looked away from Andros briefly and caught her gaze, giving her a quick smile as he did so. She smiled back, glad he was there the way he always had been. 

Her eyes wandered to Cassie, whose attention, if her expression was anything to go by, was a million miles away. Cassie had been a little close-mouthed when she joined the Turbo team, but she had loosened up as they all got to know each other. 

*She wasn't used to having people care about her,* Ashley thought, smiling at the once and present Pink Ranger. *I'm glad she accepted the Power. She deserved it, if any of us did.* 

Coming full circle, Ashley found herself staring at Andros again. The determination on his face--that resolve to drive away evil, or at the very least to make it fight hard for every inch it won--was plain enough as he related to the others what the map showed of Divatox's plan. It was a look she had seen often enough, and she suspected it was part of what had carried him through the lonely years of searching for his sister aboard the empty Megaship. 

Still, there was compassion there as well, a deep caring for all living things that made him the antithesis of the evil he fought against. Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered the full force of that tenderness turned on her--last night, when he had let her sleep in his room, and again just a little while ago, when he kissed her… 

Ashley shook her head, smiling at her own preoccupation. *Maybe it's me who's changed,* she thought, looking the others over once more. *We're each of us a little different than we were when we left Earth, but I've finally fallen for someone. Not as hard as Cassie did for Phantom almost a year ago,* she admitted wryly, *but hard enough.* 

She supposed, also, that they were closer now than they had been on Earth. The Rangers had always been friends, watching each other's backs and ready to die for one another if it ever came to that, but they had lived separately. Now they were with each other constantly, and even when they were apart, there was little between them but a few bulkheads. 

*This kind of environment lends itself to the desire for secrets,* Ashley conceded. Unfortunately--or fortunately, depending on which side of the argument you were on--it was least conducive to actually *keeping* secrets… 

She gave Cassie a speculative look. Ashley had always assumed her friend would get over Phantom when he stayed away for weeks, and then months, at a time. But it hadn't happened, and now that he had been held in one place long enough for them to actually talk, her curiosity demanded to know what they had talked *about*. 

Caught up in her own thoughts, Ashley didn't hear the lift doors slide open. She noticed when Andros stopped talking, however, and she saw Cassie turn. Following their gaze, Ashley's eyes widened. 

***

There was noise. Noise, and a kaleidoscopic whirl of color that made no sense, refusing to resolve itself into coherent images. *Keep moving,* came a discernible feeling--not thought, just impulse. *Have to get away--* 

He bolted upright, taking in the foreign surroundings and the absence of--of what? *Something's wrong,* the instinct insisted, but logical thought refused to come. 

He stared straight ahead for too long--*vulnerable*--but finally the noise began to subside, and the walls around him registered. The controlled panic didn't dissipate until he recognized them as the boundaries of the Megaship's Medical bay, and memories started flooding back. 

He winced at the overflow of information, but managed to relax a little as he realized he was in no imminent danger. *Where's Cassie?* he thought first, glancing around. 

The Medical bay was deserted. He had no answer for her absence, but, when he tried to think back on it, could not clearly remember her presence, either. He knew she had been here--at least, he thought she had. 

*How much is dream, hallucination, and how much is memory?* he wondered, as he had several times before. He hated crashing like this, but it was an inevitable result of pushing his crystal too hard. 

"DECA," he said, and waited for the camera light to come on. "Where's Cassie?" 

"Cassie is on the Bridge," DECA informed him. 

He swung his legs of the patient bed, and tried to ignore the dizziness that swept over him as he did so. Concentrating on the ruby embedded in his armor, he felt the Power respond dimly, and he managed to push himself to his feet. 

*She's going to kill me,* he thought, considering for the first time that he might not be thinking very clearly. But the need to *move* overcame his indecision, and he walked carefully toward the door. 

With the first few steps, the room swayed alarmingly, but he persevered. The environment steadied somewhat as he progressed, and soon he was in the hallway. It took only a moment to remember which way the lift was, and he found that if he concentrated on *moving* along the corridor, the Power responded by boosting his adrenaline levels. 

By the time he reached the lift and stepped inside, he was feeling semi-alert. With enhanced clarity, however, came the realization that he was being extraordinarily stupid. He had, after all, been in the Medical bay for a reason. And the familiar feelings of disorientation and detachment told him what that reason had most likely been. 

He lifted one hand to touch the ruby on his chest. *I pushed it too hard. But I had to--* 

And there was no point in going back now. "Bridge," he said, and the lift obediently hummed to life. 

They were standing at one of the Megaship's main stations when he arrived--he couldn't remember which one, but they were all gathered there, her included. She was staring at the forward screen, but she turned as soon as the doors opened, alarm written all over her face. 

"Phantom?" Andros asked, an unspoken question in his address. 

He nodded, regretting it when the room suddenly became unstable again. "I am well, Andros." 

"No, you're not." Cassie's tone had no room for argument. She left the group and caught his arm, gently, as though that small movement could throw him off balance. It almost did. 

Leading him forward, she swiveled one of the chairs around with her foot and looked pointedly at it. "Sit down before you fall," she told him, and he obeyed gratefully. 

Andros was talking again, and Phantom half-listened as Cassie whispered, "You were in the Medical bay for a reason, you know." He smiled, not so much at her words as her voice. It seemed it had been a long time since he last heard it, but he couldn't remember why. 

"So there's no way to tell which one is Zordon," Andros was saying. "They're all emitting some sort of false distortion field…" 

He didn't hear the end of Andros's sentence, but something about it seemed wrong. He struggled to *think*--the urge to move was gone, but the emptiness of his mind still bothered him. 

*I ought to be used to it by now,* he thought, staring at the purple and red scribbles on the screen. 

*Shielding.* He had no idea where the thought came from, but he heard himself speak. "There is a way." 

The Rangers all turned to look at him, and he was aware suddenly of Cassie's hand resting on his shoulder. "Some of Divatox's ships will be equipped to shield the true distortion from scanners, so that while in normal transit, or in the event that this ploy fails, she will still be able to disguise Zordon's location." 

He had no idea where the words were coming from--the memory was there, amazingly enough, and the principles of its execution, but he simply wasn't capable of expressing them right now. He *knew* that--and yet, he was doing it. The Power lay almost dormant, yet something was converting his raw knowledge into understandable sentences. 

"I will show you how to detect that shielding," he offered. "If we determine on which ships it is present, we will narrow the search parameters considerably." 

Andros nodded, and the rest of them seemed to accept this plan without question. How he had conveyed it still baffled him, however, and he looked up at Cassie, meeting her gaze with a puzzlement she could not discern through his visor.

_fin_


	6. Before The Storm

_Disclaimer: If I owned Power Rangers, I could pay my college tuition. But I don't, and I can't. I'd like to thank my muse, Zeke the Technospider, for the amazing inspiration that got this story done in *one night*… (Sleep was not involved)_

**Before the Storm  
by Starhawk**

Phantom stood, feeling Cassie's hand slide down his arm to rest possessively on his elbow. He smiled to himself as he bent over the scanner console. It felt right, somehow, to have her at his side, though he still didn't remember why he was here. 

The scanner controls, on the other hand, were strangely familiar--almost as though he were seeing them through someone else's eyes. *Ironic,* he thought vaguely, adjusting the frequency readings so the scanners were operating on a different wavelength. *I can't remember how I came to be on the Megaship, yet I'm able to recalibrate the scanner system.* 

"I don't like this," Carlos was saying in the background. "No matter which direction we go, we're pretty much surrounded by Divatox's army." 

"Yeah," TJ agreed. "Are you *sure* she won't suddenly decide we'd be less of a nuisance in some other form? Say, spacedust?" 

Andros must have shaken his head, because Carlos demanded, "Cassie, back us up here." 

"I don't like it either," Cassie said over her shoulder. "But those ships are just sitting out there." She turned away from the scanners at last, folding her arms across her chest. "If they were going to attack, wouldn't they have done it by now?" 

Phantom had to brace himself against the console as a wave of dizziness came over him. Even so, his vision darkened ominously, and he shook his head in a futile attempt to clear it. He cursed mentally as he felt himself stumble. 

In seconds, Cassie was there again, her hand on his arm and concern in her voice. "Phantom?" 

"I am well," he managed for the second time in the past half-hour. The world had stopped spinning, and he could concentrate again--but Cassie was not convinced. 

"Stop *saying* that," she told him. "At least until you mean it!" 

He looked up, staring into her dark brown eyes in confusion. *How does she--* 

"Scanners are offline," DECA reminded them, and Phantom glanced back at the console automatically. 

"You didn't enter search parameters yet," Cassie pointed out, leaning forward to indicate some part of the incomplete recalibration. 

This time, he felt the world start to spin as soon as she let go of him, and when he tried to follow her explanation, the scanners had become an incomprehensible blur of instrumentation. *It's her,* he realized, reaching blindly for her hand. 

She stared at him, puzzled, but she let him grab her fingers. "What's wrong?" 

He gazed back in equal bewilderment as his surroundings went sane again. Shaking his head slowly, he didn't know how to answer. 

"Guys," Andros broke in, when the silence went on too long. 

Cassie started, and Phantom's fingers tightened on hers. Somehow, she must have understood what he needed, for she nodded at him and left her hand in his. Closing his eyes, he offered silent thanks and turned back to the scanners. 

The argument over Divatox's intentions did not resume as he worked, and the Bridge was quiet until he entered the last adjustments and the "end program" code into the scanner interface. "DECA," he asked finally, looking up at the screen, "display traces of interdimensional shielding on the forward screen." 

One of the purple-encircled dots started to blink. Another began to flicker on the other side of the map, and beside it, a third joined in. The rest of the dots remained a steady, luminescent red. 

"Zordon has to be on one of those ships," TJ surmised, and Phantom nodded. 

"We'll split into teams of two," Andros decided, taking his eyes away from the screen to survey his fellow Rangers. "Each team will teleport onto one of those ships and track the source of the interdimensional distortion manually." 

"What are we going to do when we _do_ find Zordon?" Ashley asked suddenly. "I mean, even assuming we can teleport him out of there, we're not going to be able to make a run for it afterwards." 

"Yeah," Carlos spoke up. "Divatox's ships are everywhere. They're not going to let us just leave." 

"We won't need to get far," Phantom put in, dim memories of a similar search and rescue coming to mind. "There's a Sanctuary moon about two light years from here. If we can reach it, Divatox will not be able to follow." 

"A sanctuary moon?" Cassie repeated. "What's that?" 

"It's an asteroid surrounded by an electronic damping field," Andros explained. "Some of them are natural, but most have been created as refuges by smugglers or other vagabonds that aren't under the protection of a specific Ranger team." 

"They are used by everyone, though," Phantom reproved mildly, tiredly amused by Andros's mention of 'other vagabonds'. *It is a category of which I could be considered a part,* he admitted. 

Andros did not dispute the correction. "Some hide dimensional gateways," he added, looking at Phantom questioningly. 

Phantom nodded, but didn't have the energy to elaborate. He felt Cassie move closer, and knew that she had noticed his flagging enthusiasm. 

"The gateways are leftover from a time before the League," Andros told the others. "No one knows where they came from or how they work, but they can transport an object halfway across the universe in less than a second." 

"That's convenient," Carlos remarked. 

"Only if we can reach it," Ashley said, looking apprehensively at the forward screen. "DECA, can you show us where this gateway is?" 

"The Sanctuary moon is located on the outskirts of Sector 439," DECA's voice replied, and a blue square appeared in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Quiet settled across the Bridge once more as they all considered the distance involved. 

"Let's find Zordon first," TJ declared, a much needed voice of reason. "Then we can worry about reaching this asteroid, or moon, or whatever it is." 

"Asteroid," Phantom murmured. "Sanctuary moon is simply the term applied to an object surrounded by an electronic damping field." 

TJ gave a small salute in acknowledgement, and Andros nodded once. "Right. Each team will be equipped with a handheld scanner and a homing device, so that if we lose contact with each other DECA will still be able to find us and bring us back." 

Phantom didn't miss the look Cassie gave Andros, but he pretended to ignore it, even when Cassie rather obviously cocked her head in his direction. Right now, he was too drained to do anything but jeopardize the others' safety on a mission such as this, and he knew it. 

"We should be safe here for the time being," Andros said, getting the hint. "We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning." 

Phantom nodded in acknowledgement, and felt Cassie tug on his arm. "You're going back to the Medical bay," she told him firmly. "I know you won't let us leave you behind tomorrow, so you'd better get some sleep in the meantime." 

"And *you'd* better eat," TJ added, shooting her a look Phantom couldn't interpret.

Surprised, he glanced over at Cassie. "You are not eating?" 

She shrugged, giving TJ an annoyed look. "I'm not hungry." 

*She's hiding something,* he thought, though he didn't know how he could be so certain. Struggling to stay coherent, Phantom let Cassie lead him to the lift. "You're--you're not telling the truth," he told her, as the doors slid open for them. Her presence no longer seemed to help him focus, and finally he gave up trying to figure it out and asked her, "How did I know that?" 

She drew him into the lift, her expression worried. "DECA, take us to Megadeck four," she told the computer, and he saw her glance out at someone on the Bridge just before the doors closed. 

"Cassie?" he asked, listening to the hum of the lift. "Where are we going?" He didn't really care, but it seemed important to her. 

She had both hands on his arm now, and was leaning against him--or was he leaning on her? He couldn't tell, but it felt nice either way. From a distance, he thought he heard her answer, "The Medical bay." There was a pause, and her voice came again, "Don't you remember?" 

The doors slid open onto an empty corridor before he could think of a suitable reply. He just stood there, looking at it, until he felt Cassie move. "Phantom," she prompted softly. 

He stepped forward, now leaning heavily on her shoulder. His vision tunneled--just for a moment, he thought, but when the darkness receded again, he was in the Medical bay, gazing up at Cassie's frightened face. 

"What's wrong?" he mumbled, groping for her hand. "Don't look like that." 

She tried to smile. "Then stop fainting on me." 

"I didn't faint," he protested, finding her hand and squeezing it gently. "My crystal's overtaxed… can't keep me going…" 

"What?" A frown marred her charming expression, and he wanted nothing more than to make it go away. "What do you mean?" 

"Did I ever tell you," he asked drowsily, "how much I love you?" 

He heard her catch her breath as his eyes slid shut. "You should sleep," she told him, from somewhere far away, and he felt dream images overtaking him already. 

"And," he returned in a voice barely above a whisper, "you should eat." He didn't know why that was the appropriate response, but something told him it was, and he was in no condition to argue. 

"Do you want me to go?" Cassie's voice asked, and he fought to open his eyes and look at her. That was the last thing he wanted, but he couldn't force his body to return from the brink of unconsciousness. 

He wasn't even sure she heard him whisper, "Please… don't leave," before he fell into the welcoming arms of sleep. 

***

"So what's wrong with Phantom?" Ashley asked, voicing the question that was on everyone's mind. 

TJ looked up, catching Carlos's eye before turning to Andros for an explanation. The Red Ranger paused as they all stopped eating to look in his direction. He shrugged, a little uncomfortably, TJ thought, and said only, "I don't know much more than you do." 

"But you know *something*," Carlos insisted. 

Andros sighed, looking over his shoulder as though he expected Phantom to be in the doorway listening. "I know that his life energy is tied to his morphing ability," Andros told them. 

"Why?" TJ interrupted, realizing his mistake when Andros shot him an exasperated look.

"I don't know; he never told me. But…" he looked down at his plate. "I know he can't stay morphed forever. It drains his ruby, which, by extension, drains his life force." 

"I've never seen him demorph," Ashley put in, glancing at Carlos and TJ. TJ shook his head, as did Carlos. 

Andros shook his head as well. "He doesn't usually demorph around other people. And before you ask," he said, with a quick look in TJ's direction, "I don't know why that is, either. But I've known him for almost three years, and I've never seen him unmorphed." 

"So… you think he's been morphed too long?" Ashley guessed. 

Andros shrugged again. "DECA can't find anything wrong with him, aside from the fact that he's too tired to stand for more than a few minutes at a time." 

TJ raised an eyebrow. If that was true, there was something fundamentally wrong with the way Phantom was being treated. "Maybe I'm missing something, here, but--doesn't that mean that no matter how much he sleeps, he's not going to get better until he demorphs?" 

"Readings indicate that if Phantom were not morphed, he would be comatose," DECA interjected calmly. TJ looked at her camera in surprise, not sure whether to be more amazed at her statement or the simple fact that she had answered him. 

"Which he almost is anyway," Carlos remarked. "What good does that do him if he's not going to get any better?" 

"You don't understand," Andros said, looking at each of them in turn. "Phantom has the strongest sense of loyalty and honor of anyone I've ever met, and he counts the four of you as friends. He won't let you go into battle without him." 

"But we're not going into battle!" Carlos objected, and Andros gave *him* the exasperated look. 

"You know what I mean," the Red Ranger told him. 

"What about you?" Ashley wanted to know. "You're his friend too." 

Before Andros could answer, TJ realized, "That's why he gave up following Dark Spectre to come help us. He could have learned something important, but he came all the way to Earth just to tell us what Astronema was up to." 

Andros nodded. "And believe me, he's not going to stay here while we go look for Zordon tomorrow. Sleep will help to some degree; probably restore enough energy to his crystal that he can stay on his feet until we finish our mission. But…" Here, he sighed again. "I hope he doesn't have to fight." 

"Someone has to go with him," Ashley said, even though that had never been in question. Andros had said they would go in pairs--and there would be no exceptions, especially for someone as weak as Phantom was right now. 

The same thought ran through everyone's mind, and TJ said it aloud. "Cassie will go."

"We won't be able to get her away from him anyway," Carlos muttered. 

To TJ's surprise, it was who Andros defended their teammate. "If she cares for him that much, she'll keep him safer than any of us can." 

"It's true," Ashley agreed. "He's not used to working on a team, but if he'll accept anyone's help, it will be Cassie's." 

TJ saw Andros give her a startled look, and he hid a smile. *If I had to guess, I'd say that one struck a little too close to home for Andros.* 

Pushing his seat back, TJ stood. "On that note, I'm going to assume she's not joining us for lunch. And I," he added with a grin, "do not care how much Cassie and Phantom admire each other if it means she no longer eats." 

Exchanging his dishes for another lunch at the Synthetron, TJ continued unnecessarily, "I'm going to take this down to the Medical bay. I'll see you guys later." 

"Bye TJ," Ashley called, echoed by the other two as he strode out into the hallway. He waved over his shoulder before he was around the corner and out of their line of sight. 

The Medical bay was quiet when he entered, and the scene was much the same as it had been an hour or two ago when he came to find Cassie the first time. Phantom lay on the patient bed, presumably asleep--not that anyone could tell by looking at him. Cassie perched nearby on a stool, chin on her fist, watching him. 

"Cass?" TJ spoke softly, not wanting to disturb her. 

She looked up, seeming unsurprised by his presence. "Hey, Teej." 

"I brought you some lunch," he said, hefting the tray in her direction. 

She smiled, sliding off the stool to take it from him. "Thanks. I appreciate it." 

Not sure how to read her reaction, he tried to explain, "You said you weren't hungry, but…" 

Cassie made a face, glancing in Phantom's direction. "He pretty much shot that story out of the water." 

"So he was right?" TJ asked, helping her clear off one of the counters so she could set her tray down. "How *did* he know?" 

She shook her head, putting the tray on the counter and turning back toward Phantom. "I don't know," she admitted. "He said something…" 

Cassie looked at him uncertainly. "Can I tell you something? Something you can't tell the others, and something you definitely can't laugh at?" 

He would have laughed then, except for the solemn expression on her face. "You know you can," he told her. "Cross my heart." 

"Teej…" Staring intently at Phantom, she folded her arms across her chest in an automatic and instinctively defensive gesture that she had been wont to use all the time, back when she first joined the team. Her next words didn't really surprise him, other than the fact that he hadn't expected her to admit it. "I think I love him." 

"I wouldn't have guessed," TJ replied dryly. 

"Teej!" She glared at him, and he realized he was smiling. 

Sobering, TJ apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it to tease you; I just meant it's been obvious ever since we met him that you'd fallen pretty hard for him." 

She sighed, accepting his explanation. "What am I going to do?" Cassie asked softly, her gaze returning to Phantom. 

TJ shifted where he stood, not sure he should ask. "Do you… do you know how he feels?" 

She nodded slowly. "I think I do. I think--I hope he feels the same way." 

"You hope?" TJ repeated gently, not wanting to upset her. 

She took a deep breath. "That's the other thing you can't tell *anyone*," she warned him. 

With one finger, he drew an "X" over his heart. Cassie smiled at him. "Thanks--I feel like I have to tell someone, or it won't be real…" 

TJ smiled back, and waited for her to continue. 

"He said--this was earlier, a little while after you guys left…" She drew in another deep breath, and looked down at Phantom. "He told me that I was more important to him than his life." 

TJ couldn't help the whistle that escaped. "I'd say that's pretty definitive." 

She nodded, but she didn't look any less uncertain. "Something else?" TJ prompted, and she shrugged. 

"He says his people bond to a person for life--they know the person they'll love as soon as they see them, and there's no changing it. What if--" She tore her eyes away from the figure on the patient bed and looked at him with worried eyes. "What if he doesn't *want* to love me, but he doesn't have any choice?" 

TJ was still wrestling with the concept of a lifelong bond, but Cassie obviously needed an answer *now*. "No one *chooses* to love someone, Cassie. It just happens. You two just knew a little sooner than most people do, that's all."

Cassie looked thoughtful for a moment, then a smile started to creep across her face. "Thanks, Teej," she said, and to his surprise, she threw her arms around him. 

He grinned, hugging her back. "Hey, what are friends for?" 

Stepping back, Cassie smiled up at him again. "I mean it, TJ. Thanks." 

"Any time," he promised, glad to see her happy again. 

Turning around, she faced the tray he had brought with something akin to enthusiasm. "You know, I really *am* hungry," she confessed, picking up the sandwich. 

"I know," TJ said cockily, and she rolled her eyes at him. 

Something occurred to him as he watched her eat. "You never did tell me how Phantom knew you weren't telling the truth." 

She raised an eyebrow at him over a mouthful of tuna sandwich, and held up one finger to indicate he should give her a second. Nodding, TJ looked over at Phantom. Remembering Andros's words, he shivered. *"He'll probably be able to stay on his feet, but I hope he doesn't have to fight…"* 

*I don't want her going into a hostile situation with a partner who can't fight,* TJ thought, knowing at the same time that there was very little he could do about it. Still--*she should at least know how much of a liability he could be.* 

Before he could say anything, though, Cassie swallowed and started to answer his first question. "I don't really understand it, either," she said, watching him with the same look she had given him just before she told him about the bond that Phantom had claimed the two of them had: doubtful of his reaction, and willing to talk about it only because he had been sworn to secrecy. 

"Phantom says," she started, and it occurred to TJ, just briefly, that Phantom could hurt her *very* badly if he so chose. The thought was gone in less time than it took to blink--their ally had proven himself countless times to be an honorable person. But the impression left by the fleeting idea was enough to make TJ promise himself that Phantom would answer to him if he ever made Cassie so much as cry. 

"There's some sort of telepathy thing," she was saying, "some kind of 'empathic bond', he called it, that lets both partners sense the other's feelings." She shrugged uncomfortably. "I didn't believe him at first, but there have been a couple of things I can't explain any other way." 

"Like what?" TJ wanted to know. 

Cassie took a deep breath. "When he showed up on the Bridge, a little while ago? I knew he was coming. *Before* the lift arrived. I knew he wasn't all right as soon as he stepped out onto the Bridge, and he knew I wasn't telling the truth about not being hungry." 

"Lucky guesses," TJ ventured, not sure how he felt about the whole ESP issue. *Of course,* he had to remind himself, *Andros moves things around without even touching them on a daily basis, and *that* doesn't bother me… anymore, at least.* 

"Maybe," Cassie said, her eyes on Phantom again. "I'm just not sure now." 

"You'll figure it out," TJ assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "And we'll be here for you, no matter what." 

"Thanks," she said with a smile, putting a hand over his. "You know," she added, glancing at him, "I think that meeting you guys and becoming a Ranger is the best thing that ever happened to me." 

TJ grinned. "I think we all feel that way." 

She nodded, and they stood in silence for a little while, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally, TJ stirred, remembering his intention to tell her what Andros had said about Phantom. 

"I hate to ruin the moment," TJ said ruefully, "but we were talking at lunch, and there's something I think you should know." 

She looked at him curiously. "Andros says Phantom's life energy and his morphing ability are linked together somehow," TJ told her. "Apparently, Phantom doesn't demorph around anyone, as a general rule, but he also can't stay morphed forever--it takes too much out of him. 

"Andros thinks that's why Phantom is so weak now. He thinks Phantom's been morphed for a long time, and it's drained his Power Ruby--and his regular energy, I guess. It sounds like he can't recover without demorphing--but if he demorphs, he'll lose what strength he has until he gets better." 

TJ was watching Cassie's face as he talked, but her expression was completely inscrutable. *Heck, for all I know, Phantom's already told her all this,* TJ thought suddenly. *Maybe *she's* seen him demorphed…* 

It was an interesting thought, but it also wasn't any of his business. He finished awkwardly, "Andros says sleep will help him temporarily; enough so he'll be able to go with us tomorrow--but he doesn't think Phantom will be well enough to fight." 

Giving her a knowing look, he added, "I know you well enough to realize we won't be able to get either of you to stay behind, but I just wanted to warn you. No matter how well he seems when he wakes up, be *careful.* Don't expect him to be full strength." 

"Good advice," mumbled a voice from the patient bed. 

Cassie rolled her eyes in fond amusement. "You'd think I'd learn," she said, her words apparently directed at TJ, yet loud enough to be overheard in the hallway. "You can *never* count on him being asleep." 

With that, she went to Phantom's side, and TJ could have sworn he heard a smile in the tired voice when Phantom replied, "I am used to sleeping with the hum of machinery, not the sound of voices." 

"I'm sorry," Cassie said, instantly contrite. "I didn't realize we were that noisy." 

"You were not," Phantom told her. "I am simply not accustomed to having people around me while I sleep… but I do not mind it." 

Unspoken was the implication that he didn't mind having *Cassie* around, and TJ wondered if now would be a good time to leave. Before he could make his escape, though, Phantom's words stopped him. 

"You were right, TJ," the prone shadow on the patient bed told him. "I can not recover completely by tomorrow morning, and sleep while morphed is a temporary measure at best. But I will not allow you to face Divatox's army alone, and I can be of no assistance if I am unconscious." 

"So sleep," Cassie told him gently, clasping his hand in both of hers. "We'll be quiet now." 

"Yes, Cassie," Phantom said, and TJ raised his eyebrows. Unless he was mistaken, Phantom was teasing his friend… 

His suspicion was confirmed when Cassie rolled her eyes again. The contented look on her face gave her away, though, and TJ knew the mock-resignation in Phantom's voice hadn't bothered her in the slightest. 

Backing up, TJ managed to slip away without drawing their attention. As he headed for the lift, he carried with him the image of Cassie kneeling beside Phantom, tenderness in her eyes as their fingers entwined. 

***

Cassie finally joined them again at dinner, entering the Glider holding bay as they were sitting down. She was warmly greeted, and Andros couldn't help asking her about Phantom. 

"He's as well as he can be, for now," she answered. That told him precisely nothing, but he supposed it was all she *could* say. Anything more definitive would be untrue, or at the very least, guesswork. 

She didn't say much for the rest of the meal, although she didn't seem as preoccupied as she had been earlier. She followed the conversation, and laughed when someone made a joke--that alone told Andros that Phantom must be doing well enough. 

After dinner, the group broke up sooner than usual--Carlos suggested a game of basketball, and Andros wondered that they never seemed to tire of that game. TJ agreed readily enough, and, surprisingly, so did Cassie. 

"Great," TJ exclaimed, clapping her on the shoulder. "We'll switch off--unless either of you are going to join us?" 

At his inquiring look, Andros shook his head. "No thanks," he said. "I've got some work to do still." 

"I think I'll pass, too," Ashley said, when the Blue Ranger turned in her direction. "You guys have a good time, though." 

"Oh, we will," TJ said, grinning as he shot an appraising look at his teammates. 

"See you later, Ash, Andros," Carlos added, moving toward the door. 

Cassie gave TJ a friendly shove as they followed. "What was that for?" he demanded, and Cassie laughed. 

"That was just because," Andros heard her say, as the three of them disappeared into the corridor. 

He shook his head. "Just because" didn't strike him as a particularly sound answer, and, judging from the good-natured argument that ensued, TJ agreed. Their laughter echoed back to him until the lift doors closed on them, cutting off the sound. 

"Hey," Ashley said softly, coming up behind him. "What are you thinking about?" 

He couldn't help but smile a little as he turned to look at her. "You always ask me that." 

"Because you never tell me, otherwise," she countered, and he had to admit there was some truth to that. 

He shrugged. "I was just thinking that Cassie seems… different, suddenly." 

Ashley smiled. "You just never knew her when Phantom was around. She gets like this when he's with us--sort of thoughtful and dreamy." 

"He mentioned her once, I think," Andros mused aloud. 

Ashley cocked her head. "You think?" she repeated. 

"It was just before the Battle of Eltare," he said defensively. "We didn't have much time to talk. I asked him what had kept him away so long the last time--he was usually on Eltare every other week, at the least--and he said he'd been on Earth. Someone had kept him…" 

Catching her eye, he added, "I thought it was odd at the time--he never stayed anywhere for long, except maybe Aquitar--but when the fighting started, I didn't have a chance to ask him about it." 

"Why Aquitar?" Ashley asked curiously. 

He shook his head. "I don't know. You might have noticed he's not very communicative…" 

Ashley laughed, and he smiled in satisfaction. It was hard to know what she would find funny, but he was getting better at it. It pleased him no end to hear that laugh… 

"Do you really have work to do?" Ashley asked suddenly. 

Andros hesitated. In truth, there were some things he needed to go over with DECA before the team left tomorrow. Staring into Ashley's eyes, though, he couldn't convince himself that it was important enough that it had to be done right now. 

"Nothing that can't wait," he told her, and she smiled that sun-bright smile at him. 

"Shall we continue our conversation, then?" 

It took him a moment to remember what she was referring to, but when he did, his heart started to pound. Thinking back, he had no idea what had possessed him when he asked for a raincheck on the conversation they'd had on the Bridge. He hadn't wanted to let go of the closeness they had had there for a few minutes, and the question had been a way to postpone moving away from her. But he hadn't truly known what he meant by it, and he had even less idea how she'd taken it. 

She laughed again at his expression. "I don't know what you're thinking, but I'll bet it's a lot more interesting than what *I'm* thinking." 

Andros blushed, recognizing the veiled reference to teenage hormones despite his relative isolation over the past few years. "I'm just kidding, Andros," she said with a smile, taking pity on him. 

Linking her arm through his, she continued, "I just want to talk, or whatever you want to do." Making a face, she suggested, "Maybe you could even help me figure out where I'm going wrong with my telekinesis." 

Something occurred to him when she said that, and, seeing the frustration she tried to hide, he knew it was the right thing to do. *It might make her feel better, and it could even be enough to help her a little.* 

"Come on," he said impulsively. "I want to show you something." 

Surprised, Ashley let him lead her out of the Glider holding bay and down the corridor to the living quarters. He paused outside his door and tapped the keypad on the wall. The door slid open, and he stepped inside. "DECA, turn the lights up, please," he requested, already moving toward the closet. 

He hit the release, and this door opened as well. He hadn't seen it in years, since he'd moved his personal possessions onto the Megaship, but he knew exactly where it was. It took him only moments to free it from its bubble prison, and he pulled it gently out into the light and open air. It wasn't even dusty. 

Ashley had followed him into the room, and looked at the colorful bauble in surprise. "What is it?" she asked quietly, seeming to sense that it was important but not yet understanding its significance in his life. 

"It's a telekinesis ball," Andros told her, holding it out in the palm of his hand and concentrating. The multi-colored sphere expanded at his mental summons, and the ball drifted into the air without effort. 

Giving it a gentle push with his mind, he sent it floating in her direction. Ashley inhaled sharply, and he stopped the ball's movement immediately, giving her an inquisitive look. She had seen him use his telekinesis dozens of times before, so it couldn't be that… 

"It--how does it work?" she asked, her eyes wide. 

"It's activated as soon as it expands," he explained, poking one side to set the ball rotating lazily in the middle of the room. "It levitates on its own, and it's extremely sensitive to telekinetic projections. You barely have to think at it to make it move." 

"Did you…" Ashley swallowed. "Did you learn with one of those?" 

"I learned with this one," he answered quietly. "So did my sister." 

"Oh…" she said quietly, still making no move toward it. 

"Does it bother you?" he asked, confused by her reaction. "I didn't mean to--" 

"No," she assured him. "No, I think it's the coolest thing I've ever seen…" 

He waited, the ball still spinning idly between them. "It's just--" In a rush, Ashley confessed, "I feel like if I can't learn I'm letting you down. Telekinesis is obviously important to you, and I really want to be able to do it. But you've spent so much time with me, and I *still* don't understand!" 

"Ashley," Andros said slowly. "You don't have to learn telekinesis for me." 

"I'm not," she promised. "That's not why I'm doing it. But it's so easy for you--I feel like you must be exasperated when I can't learn." 

"First off," Andros said, "You *can* learn; anyone can who's as determined as you are." 

She flashed a brief smile at him, and he had to ask, "Do I really seem exasperated to you? because I'm not--I admire you for wanting something so much that you'll work at it for months without any outward sign of progress." 

Ashley wrinkled her nose at him. "Thanks. I think." 

"Ash, if there's one thing I've learned about you," he told her earnestly, "it's that you never give up. Once you set your mind to something, you do it, no matter what. This is just something else you've set your mind to, and it's taken longer than you expected. I know you'll get it eventually, just like everything else." 

She sighed, but her expression looked happier. "You give good pep talks; did you know that?" 

"Good *what*?" Andros asked. 

"Pep talks," Ashley repeated, clearly amused. "It means you know how to inspire people." 

He shrugged. "I'm just telling you what I think…" 

"I know," she said, smiling. "That's what makes it so sweet. And so is this," she added, pointing at the telekinesis ball. "So, what do I do?" 

"Hold your hands up in front of you," Andros instructed, putting his own hands up, palm out, to demonstrate. "Now, just think of giving it a push. Like you were going to throw it." 

Her brow furrowed, and her hands moved forward a little. Andros shook his head. "You don't have to actually move your hands," he said, coming over to stand behind her. "Here, let me show you." 

He reached around her and pulled her hands a little closer to her chest. "Just relax," he told her, aware of the tenseness in her upper body. "It's not going to turn and attack you." 

She giggled at that, and he smiled as he felt her relax. "That's good," he murmured. "Now close your eyes…keep your hands up," he reminded her, seeing her fingers curl forward a little. 

He put his own hands behind hers. "Picture the ball in your mind--don't think about anything else in the room. You can open your eyes to check where it is, if you want, but don't notice anything else. Just--push it." 

The ball stayed where it was, still turning with residual momentum from the push he'd given it earlier. There was, after all, nothing to slow it down except air pressure. 

"I'm going to push it for you," Andros told her, "so you know what it's like. Watch it as it moves away, and next time you try, *expect* it to do the same thing for you." 

He felt her nod. "Ready?" he asked unnecessarily, and she nodded again. 

Andros stared at the ball, giving it a light push. It flowed away from them, almost bumping into the opposite wall before he extended a hand and stopped it. With a single thought, he pulled it back toward Ashley. 

She tried again, with no better results than before. The ball just hung there, tumbling over its rotational axis. "Could you please stop it spinning?" she asked at last, sighing. "It feels like it's mocking me." 

The ball's spin slowed, and Andros looked at her, startled. "*Thank* you," Ashley said fervently. 

"I didn't do it," Andros answered, feeling a smile spread across his face. 

Ashley's hands fell, and she twisted around to look at him. Her eyes were as wide as they'd been when he'd first sent the ball spinning across the room toward her, and she searched his expression for something. "It wasn't you?" she asked, almost holding her breath. 

He shook his head. "You mean--" She seemed reluctant to take the obvious conclusional step. "*I* did it? I stopped it from spinning?" 

This time, he nodded. Her subdued inquiry left him completely unprepared for her reaction. With a delighted laugh, Ashley leaned forward and hugged him, hard--not that she had far to go, considering how close they'd been standing. "I did it, Andros! I actually did it!" 

After only a second's pause, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged back. His smile widened into a grin, but all he said was, "I knew you could, Ashley." 

***

"That was a good game," TJ announced, as he emerged with Carlos and Cassie from the Simudeck. 

"You only say that because you won," Cassie teased. 

"Not true!" TJ protested. "I also say that because I played exceptionally well." 

Cassie laughed, and Carlos shook his head at his friend's outrageously cocky attitude. TJ had been like that all evening, but it seemed to be cheering Cassie up, and Carlos suspected that was the point. 

"DECA, what's our status?" he asked, mindful of the army scattered around them. 

"There is a course correction in progress," DECA informed them. 

"What are we correcting for, DECA?" TJ queried, diverted. 

There was a brief pause, but DECA apparently couldn't come up with a suitable excuse for not answering. "A comet will intersect with our previous course in approximately six and a half minutes." 

Cassie looked up. "Will we be able to see it from our new course, DECA?" 

"The comet will be visible in three minutes," DECA replied "It will pass out of range seven minutes later." 

"Cool!" TJ exclaimed. "Let's watch it from the Bridge." 

"I'll get Ashley and Andros," Carlos volunteered, as they piled into the lift. 

"We'll come," Cassie offered, but he shook his head. 

"It'll only take a second; go ahead up. I'll be right there." 

He got no response when he knocked on Ashley's door, so he tried Andros's. "Come in," Andros's voice answered, and the door slid open. 

Ashley was there, sitting on the floor, legs curled under her as she leaned back against the sideboard of Andros's bunk. She was wearing his red sweatshirt, and as the door opened, she snatched at something in the air. It collapsed and tumbled into her hands, but not before Carlos recognized it. 

"Were you… practicing telekinesis?" he asked in surprise, looking from Ashley to Andros, who sat cross-legged on the floor across from her. Andros nodded. 

Carlos glanced back at Ashley, who ducked her head and looked at him from beneath her eyelashes. "Andros has been trying to teach me," she said shyly. 

*That's what they were talking about on the Bridge this afternoon,* he realized with a sudden flash of insight. 

"Successfully teaching," Andros corrected, and she smiled happily. 

"That's right. Successfully teaching," she repeated, clearly pleased with herself. 

The initial shock wearing off, Carlos shook his head. "Congratulations, Ash," he told her, still a little disconcerted at seeing her in red. She had *never* worn red, even before she'd become a Ranger… 

"Thanks!" she said, beaming at him. "So what's up?" 

Suddenly remembering what had brought him here, Carlos gave his head another shake. "Right--DECA found a comet. We were on our way up to see it, and thought you might want to come." 

"Sure!" Ashley exclaimed, bouncing to her feet. 

Andros followed, a little more calmly. "Comets really aren't that impressive this far out from the stars they orbit," he warned them. "They're just balls of dust and ice; it's only when they heat up that they have a tail." 

"Spoilsport," Ashley accused, taking his arm. "Let's go see."

Joining the others on the Bridge, they found that Andros was right. But, as Ashley pointed out, he was wrong as well, because as the comet crossed the Megaship's path only a few hundred kilometers behind them, something spectacular occurred. 

The residual heat of the starship's passage, lingering in the freezing void of space, vaporized enough of the outer shell to surround the "ball of dust and ice" with a silver halo. And there was enough ambient light in this corner of the star system that the free-floating water vapor sparkled and shone as it tumbled along behind the comet, making it look like a wandering star freed from the responsibilities of gravity and on course with destiny. 

Carlos stared in awe, amazed all over by the wonder of the celestial firmament through which they traveled. Gazing around at his friends, he wondered if they realized, at that moment, how lucky they truly were. 

Cassie watched a little apart from the rest of the group, her mind probably at least half occupied with the mysterious Ranger sleeping in the Medical bay. But she wasn't truly alone--TJ was nearby, watching both her and the comet like a looming guardian angel. Ashley stood shoulder to shoulder with Andros, the two of them enjoying the night together as the angelic starfarer streaked past. As Carlos watched, the Red Ranger put his arm around Ashley's shoulders, and she leaned closer to him. 

*Yes,* Carlos decided, looking back out at the silvery luminescence. *We all know exactly how lucky we are.*

_fin_


	7. Power Up

_Disclaimer: Saban owns these characters, and I'm told it's Toei that owns a lot of the footage… Thanks to the Martin factor for keeping me awake enough to write last night :)_

**Power Up  
by Starhawk**

Although from Earth orbit the Megaship saw dawn arrive sixteen times a day, sunrise does not occur in deep space, so to say that Ashley woke before the dawn would be misleading. She did, however, open her eyes more than an hour before DECA's voice would have roused her from sleep. 

She stretched, reaching above her head until her hands hit the metal edge of her bunk. She sighed happily, enjoying the feeling of a whole hour until she had to get up--until she remembered what the day held. 

*Zordon…* The name echoed in her mind. She wondered again if they would find him, or end up chasing phantoms as they had so many times before. *Even if we do find him, what are our chances of freeing him, really?* 

She pushed the thought out of her mind with an effort. There was no time for dwelling on negatives. *We're the Power Rangers, after all. Who else is there who can try?* 

Rubbing her eyes to clear the sleep from them, Ashley turned her head to look around the room. Her gaze fell on the telekinesis ball that Andros had let her keep, and she smiled. With one hand, she snagged it off the chair beside her bed and held it in front of her face. She stared at it until it started to expand, unfolding outward into a sphere twice its original size. 

Taking her hand away, she watched it float there for a minute. She remembered Andros's face last night as he stared at the ball, the way his eyes narrowed in concentration when he pushed it toward her. She felt again his presence near her, and then his body pressed against hers as he leaned forward and put his arms around her to demonstrate. 

*He pretty much destroyed my focus right then,* Ashley thought wryly. She could count on one hand the number of times they'd been that close to each other, and their relationship was new enough that it still surprised her to feel his embrace. Delighted her, yes, but surprised her at first as well. 

*I wonder if he's awake yet,* she mused idly, the colors of the ball barely visible in the dim lighting of her room. She pushed against it with her mind, and, after a moment, it started to drift down the length of her bunk. *Not that I have to see him,* she assured herself. *But… it would be nice, just for a few minutes before we have to go save the universe, to talk to him alone…*

Ashley shook her head. *You,* she told herself firmly, *have fallen way too hard.*

She'd had a crush on Andros from the first day they'd met, but he'd always been so distant that she hadn't had the courage to say anything. When the feelings hadn't gone away, she knew there was more to them than an infatuation, but she hadn't wanted to scare him off. Lately, though… she knew she'd been broadcasting worse than usual; she had caught herself staring at him at odd moments, or watching out for him on Earth as well as in battle. 

Finally, when she'd seen him alone and so obviously haunted by something, she hadn't been able to stay quiet. Ashley smiled at the memory--able to do so now only because that kiss had started something wonderful. At the time, though, she'd been desperately afraid that she had alienated him for good. 

There was a soft click as the telekinesis ball bumped against the end of her bunk, and she blinked in the darkness. She reached out with her right hand, pointing two fingers as Andros did, but she couldn't seem to bring it back. She tried for a few more seconds, then gave up with a sigh. 

"DECA? What time is it?" 

"It is one minute after six a.m.," DECA replied, her camera light blinking on briefly.

"Thanks," Ashley mumbled, stretching again. *I really should just get up,* she thought, sighing again. *I'd rather be awake for whatever we're going to face, and that means doing *something* to get my adrenaline going…* 

She pushed the blanket away from her and sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the bunk. "DECA, would you turn the lights up?" 

The computer obliged, and Ashley squinted a little in the ensuing brightness. "Thanks," she repeated. 

DECA's red light blinked once, than went out. Ashley smiled to herself. Even as she insisted on thanking the onboard computer for performing minor tasks, DECA returned the favor by granting her privacy without her having to ask. 

Ashley pushed herself to her feet, glancing around her room. There was enough room to go through a kata in here--barely--but she wasn't as into martial arts as some of the others. *Cheerleading, though,* she thought, smiling to herself. *Now there's a sport with a purpose.*

She had to acknowledge that hers was not a common opinion, but she missed being a cheerleader. Rangering left little time for extracurricular activities, even when they *were* on Earth… 

*No reason I can't enjoy them on my own,* she thought firmly, looking for her old workout clothes. *Especially if I'm going to spend the rest of the day on one of Divatox's ships tracking down interdimensional distortion signals.* 

Ashley had left many of her clothes in her room on Earth, but she found a pair of stretch shorts and a yellow crop top, both well-worn and comfortable. Neither were really wearable in public, and combined they were a little revealing. But she didn't plan on anyone seeing her, either, so that wasn't an issue. 

"If anyone's up at six o'clock on summer vacation," she muttered to herself, letting the sentence trail off. She shook her head, remembering a time when she wouldn't have opened her eyes before ten. 

She grabbed a scrunchy and her sweatshirt and headed for the door, remembering the telekinesis ball at the last moment. Turning back, Ashley saw it still floating over the end of the bed, rotating slowly and silently in the otherwise motionless room. Just for fun, she gave it a mental nudge, and watched it inch toward the wall. 

She tried again to pull it toward her, with no more success than she'd had before. Exasperated, Ashley made a face. She walked over to the ball and grabbed it out of the air, feeling it collapse in on itself the instant she touched it. Turning it over in her hands, she tried to imagine Andros as a little boy, playing and laughing with his sister. She found she couldn't--Andros's solemn air was such an integral part of his personality that she couldn't picture him being carefree.

She set the telekinesis ball down on her bureau, wishing she had known him then. It occurred to her to wonder, suddenly, what color his sister had been. He had said both he and Kerone were to be Rangers for KO-35--he was red; what color was Kerone? She had a sinking sensation that she knew. 

*Is that why he was so uncomfortable around me at first?* She turned away from the remnant of Andros's childhood, moving more slowly toward the door than she had before. The light spilled out into the shadow-filled hallway with her, and, as an afterthought, she reached back through the doorway and hit the light control pad. 

The shadows closed in, and she shivered as the door behind her slid shut. In the dimness, Kerone's spirit was that much closer. How often must it haunt Andros? 

She tried to shake the feeling off, but it was easy to be spooked this early in the morning. The lights were low, and the Megaship practically deserted… 

"Stop it," Ashley said aloud, her voice sounding overloud in the quiet hallway. "Kerone is still alive, somewhere. We *will* find her." She continued down the corridor, determined to put thoughts of Kerone, Zordon, and anyone else they might have any obligation to out of her mind, just for a little while. 

The Simudeck was deserted, as she'd expected at this hour. She activated the park program, and watched as trees and grass and sun shimmered into existence around her. *I bet it's a beautiful day in Angel Grove,* she thought, a little wistfully. 

She knew even as she walked into the sunlight, though, that she wouldn't trade her place on the Megaship for anything. The stars had become a second home to her, as she suspected they had always been for Andros. Staring up into a clear blue simulated sky, she knew something would always have been missing inside her if she hadn't been able to go into space. 

*And if I had never met Andros…* the thought came unbidden to her mind, and she had to grin. *Will I be able to do anything this morning without thinking about him?* 

"No," she answered her own question, sinking to the ground to start working her split out. *And I wouldn't have it any other way…* 

Since two days ago when she had kissed him and he had responded, she had been on an uphill spiral. It seemed like all she wanted was to be with him, and the more time they spent together, the more her feelings intensified. Just thinking about Andros made her smile, and being around him had her grinning like a fool. 

*But he's so sweet,* she thought, leaning forward to wrap her fingers around one extended foot. She couldn't help sighing when she remembered his arms around her last night, and Ashley had to laugh at herself. 

"When did I turn into such a hopeless romantic?" she wondered aloud. Swinging around to stretch in the other direction, she had to admit that, embarrassing as it was, the answer was obvious. "The day I met Andros…" 

Ashley giggled suddenly, glad there was no one there to see her mooning over their team leader. *I sound like a complete idiot.* 

She put her legs out in front of her and leaned forward again, feeling her calves and hamstrings twinge a little with the new direction. She counted to ten before relaxing and flowing to her feet. Managing to get Andros out of her mind for more than a few seconds at a time, Ashley finished stretching and tipped her head back to brush her hair out of her eyes. 

Gathering it into a ponytail, she twisted the scrunchy around her hair. Pulling off her sweatshirt, she tossed it on the ground next to an old oak tree and stepped back to survey the clearing in front of her. 

Ashley took a deep breath. *It's been a long time since I went through one of these routines,* she thought--though once she had run through them almost every afternoon. 

*No hesitation,* she reminded herself, thinking of the cheerleading motto. Pausing mid-routine would, at best, get you out of step with everyone else, and, at worst, cause yourself or someone else serious injury. 

Ashley threw herself a handspring, launching her body into the air with the confidence brought on by long practice. The trees and sky whirled through her view in quick succession, and the grass caressed her bare feet when she returned to Earth. Once the first leap had passed, the rest came easily, the memories returning as needed until she found herself reaching toward the cloudless sky in a final, triumphant pose. 

She felt a grin spread across her face, and she bowed to an imaginary crowd. Turning with a flourish, she went to bow in the other direction--and stopped short at the sight of a red-clad figure standing across the clearing, near the holographic entryway. 

"Andros!" she exclaimed, blushing as she straightened up. "I didn't see you there…"

"I'm sorry," he said, backing up a step. "I shouldn't have come in while your program was running." 

"No," she said hastily, "I don't mind; I just didn't expect anyone else to be up this early."

He didn't answer right away, and she suddenly remembered what she was wearing. Ashley folded her arms across her chest, trying to act nonchalant. *I did tell him I didn't think anyone would be up,* she reasoned, but she couldn't help feeling a little more embarrassed. 

Andros blinked, meeting her eyes again. "I asked DECA to wake me up early," he explained, shrugging his shoulders and shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweatpants. "I wanted to work out a little before breakfast today." 

"Yeah," Ashley agreed, hearing the words he left unspoken--they all needed to be as alert as possible, and some of them just weren't when they first woke up. Walking over to where he stood, she added, "That was my thought, too." 

"So I see," Andros said, glancing around the park, and she blushed again. 

She knew she probably didn't want to know, but she couldn't help asking, "How long were you standing there before I saw you?" 

"Not very long," he said, staring out into the prismatic sunbeams of this picture perfect simulation. "Just since the beginning of your last routine." 

"You saw the whole thing?" Ashley's mind flew back over all the things she'd done wrong, even though he couldn't possibly know how it was supposed to look. 

Andros nodded. "You looked great," he told her, his eyes flickering back to hers.

"Thanks," she said, unable to keep from smiling at the praise. He looked away as soon as she did, and Ashley frowned a little. 

"If you want to work out," she offered, not knowing what else to say, "go ahead and use the Simudeck. I've had it for a while; I'll just head back--to… my…" 

She slowed and stopped as he turned his gaze back on her, something in it that she couldn't identify. He stared at her for a moment, and she looked back, surprised by his sudden intense regard. 

He looked down as abruptly as he had looked at her, and she didn't understand why he moved back another step. "I don't want to interrupt," he said finally. 

"You could always spar with me," Ashley suggested slyly. She swung a hook kick at him in slow motion, an impish grin on her face. 

Andros's fist came up, and he went to block automatically, stopping just short of actually touching her. As they stared at each other, one corner of his mouth quirked in a half-smile, and he extended his other fist. 

Her right foot found the ground again and she stepped back, catching his wrist and tugging him off-balance. Before she could throw him, though, he moved forward and twisted her arm--gently--forcing her onto her toes. With a quick spin, she broke free and aimed a blow at his head. 

He brought his arms up to block, and the speed of their mock-battle increased as they tested and were tested in turn. Ashley had never fought another Ranger, and she wondered now if it was something they should have tried long ago. It was certainly instructive. 

Still pulling their punches, they worked their way close to full speed. Ashley spun to avoid an uppercut and had half a second's warning before Andros's hurricane kick came at her. She was almost completely on instinct now, as a good fighter ought to be when challenged, and she ducked out of the way. The kick slowed as it went by overhead, and she knew he was still prepared to halt at any moment if necessary. 

Ashley went on the offensive for only a moment before he turned the tables on her again, and she found herself dangerously close to being in a choke hold. She caught his arm before it could close around her neck and pulled downward, canting her body forward to send him tumbling past her shoulder to the ground. 

Not willing to surrender the advantage, she didn't let go of his arm as she followed. Grabbing the other one as well, Ashley managed to pin both his arms down. He didn't struggle, just lay there staring up at her. Breathing heavily, she grinned down at him. "Give up?" 

The look in his eyes should have warned her, but she was taken by surprise as, instead of pushing upward as she had expected, he flung his arms outward. Her support gone, she collapsed on top of him as he rolled, taking her with him and reversing their positions. 

"Does the winner get a kiss?" Andros asked, his voice husky from the exercise. 

"Always," she agreed, heart pounding as he leaned closer. She closed her eyes, feeling him release her wrists at the last minute so she could pull away if she wanted to. Then his lips covered hers, and she knew that was the *last* thing in the world she would want. 

In the fleeting moment before the kiss ended, she wondered what he would do if she tried to turn the gentle touch into something deeper… but then it was over, and she chastised herself for the thought. *Don't push,* she reminded herself, but with his face only inches from hers, it was hard to remember the promise she'd made to herself to let him set the pace. 

They stayed there on the grass, looking into each others' eyes, for what seemed like a very long time. Finally, Ashley couldn't stand it anymore and she reached up to tug playfully on his ponytail. The gesture turned into a caress, and she ran her fingers through his hair, freeing it from its red elastic and watching it fall forward in his face. 

Andros said nothing, but seconds later he drew back, sitting up and drawing his knees up to his chest. He looked oddly vulnerable, and he would no longer meet her gaze. 

Ashley regretted her action instantly, but there was no changing it now. "I'm sorry," she said contritely, propping herself up on her elbows. "I shouldn't have done that… please, forgive me?" 

Andros shook his head, and her heart clenched. *I couldn't help it!* she cried, in the privacy of her own mind. *I can't *think* straight when I'm around him…* 

"It's not you," Andros whispered, staring at the ground. "It's me--I can't think straight when I'm around you…" 

Her eyes widened at his unknowing echo of her words. "I'm going to do something stupid, I know," he continued, oblivious to her reaction. "You'll never talk to me again--and I'm not sure I could live without you anymore." 

His gaze met hers, and the pleading look there startled her more. It was an expression she had seen only once before on his face: yesterday, when he had told her about KO-35. Now, as then, she felt that she was seeing straight through the defenses he had so carefully constructed and into his very soul.

"Andros," Ashley said softly, pushing herself up the rest of the way, "there is *nothing* you could say--or do--that would make me never speak to you again. Nothing at all." 

He looked up at her uncertainly, and she smiled, kneeling forward to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear. Unconsciously, he repeated the gesture, and their hands touched. Unfolding his legs, he drew her a little closer, and she leaned the rest of the way to hug him. 

"Then… can I tell you that you're really beautiful?" he whispered in her ear.

She giggled. "Anytime." 

He didn't answer, and Ashley pulled far enough away to look at his expression. "You were serious," she realized, and Andros nodded. 

"I'll have to wear my old stuff more often," Ashley teased. 

"It's not your clothes," he protested, glancing down at her outfit. Andros blushed suddenly, and when he met her eyes again, he admitted, "Well, maybe a little. But--you have a beautiful spirit, Ashley Hammond." 

Touched, she could only smile at him. "So do you, Andros. The most beautiful I've ever known…" 

He took a deep breath, giving her a nervous look, and she knew he was about to kiss her again. Hands still on his shoulders, she scooted closer. Before he could move, she had pressed her lips to his, and this time she didn't pull away. 

*So much for letting him set the pace,* her mind thought distantly, but she ignored it. She felt his arms go around her, felt his hands on her bare skin, and relaxed against him even as her pulse skyrocketed. 

"It's seven o'clock," DECA's voice broke in, and they both started. 

Ashley sighed. "What a reality check," she murmured, not willing to move away just yet. 

Smiling at her, Andros lifted one hand to smooth the stray curls of hair away from her face. "You're my reality," he told her softly, and she rested her forehead on his shoulder, an answering smile on her face. 

"You're unbelievably romantic, you know that?" she asked, fondly amused. 

She felt his free hand stroking her hair. "I try," he replied, and she giggled, not sure why it was funny but unable to keep her sheer delight from bubbling over. 

At last, she shifted slightly and looked up at him, aware that they could sit there for hours if someone didn't move. "I guess we should go," she said reluctantly. 

Andros nodded. "I still have work to do on the equipment we're taking with us. And I should probably change," he added ruefully, holding up his arms for inspection. 

"Haven't you heard that grass stains are the newest fad?" Ashley kidded, plucking at his sleeves.

"Grass stains, maybe," Andros said, looking pointedly at her outfit. "But I think that if *you* don't change, I'm going to have some competition." 

Ashley slapped his shoulder lightly. "As if I've even looked at anyone else since I met you." 

Andros's head came up, and she tried hard not to blush, realizing she'd given away more than he had known. "Since… when?" 

"You're going to make me say it again?" Ashley shrugged uncomfortably beneath his gaze. "I've liked you since we first met… I just didn't know how to tell you." 

There was an almost unbearable pause--then Andros drew her into a fierce hug. "Me too," he confessed quietly. "But I didn't know it until a few days ago." 

She hugged back, certain she could never be happier than she was right now… 

She knew he had to let go eventually, but she was still disappointed when it happened. Andros scrambled to his feet and offered her a hand, which she took gratefully. Not because she needed it, but because it prolonged contact with him a little longer. 

"I'll get your sweatshirt," Andros said, but she stopped him. 

"Don't be silly," Ashley chided. "You have more to do than me; go get started. Thanks for the thought, though," she added, and was rewarded by his smile. 

"I'll see you at breakfast," Andros said, his intonation making it almost a question.

She nodded, smiling, and he backed away slowly. Finally, he turned and strode toward the door, but she saw him glance over his shoulder once more before heading out into the corridor. A grin spread across her face, and she practically skipped over to her sweatshirt. Scooping it up, she hugged it to her chest and closed her eyes, reliving Andros's embrace in her mind. 

She was still thinking about him when she returned to her room, and no matter how often she tried to focus on something else while she showered and changed, her thoughts always came back to Andros. Finally, she gave up and let herself daydream as she made her way to the Glider holding bay. 

"Hey, Ash!" Carlos greeted her as she entered. 

"Hi," Ashley answered with a contented sigh. 

Carlos raised an eyebrow. "You sound… happy." 

"Probably because I am," she called over her shoulder, as she went to the Synthetron.

"Sleep well?" he asked, and she smiled. 

"As a matter of fact, yes. How about you?" 

There was a pause, and she pulled her dishes from the Synthetron and turned in time to see him shaking his head. "I had the weirdest dream," Carlos said. "About Dimitria, and Zordon… I think Phantom was in it, and the Blue Senturion. Even Justin." 

Ashley winced as she set her plate and tumbler on the table. This mission was one Justin would have wanted to be in on, even if it was just to know what was going on. *How long since any of us have talked to him, I wonder?* 

"Justin says good luck," TJ's voice volunteered sleepily from the doorway, and Carlos and Ashley both looked up. 

"Morning, Teej," Carlos greeted him. 

At the same time, Ashley asked, "When did you talk to Justin?" 

"Yesterday," TJ mumbled, walking over to the Synthetron. "Right after the news broadcast with the Aquitians. I figured *someone* on Earth should know what was really going on." 

Ashley smiled to herself. Leave it to TJ to think of details while the rest of them were freaking out over the main issue. "Speaking of which," the Blue Ranger continued, looking around the room as he returned to the table, "Where are Cassie and Andros?" 

Not sure how that related, Ashley nonetheless answered. "Andros had some work to do on the scanners and the homing devices. He should be here soon, though." 

Carlos frowned. "I thought he did that last night." 

"No," Ashley replied, trying to hide a grin. "He was… involved with something else." 

She saw comprehension dawn on Carlos's face--he had, after all, been the one to find them playing with the telekinesis ball. He said nothing, though, and the exchange seemed to have gone right over TJ's sleepy head. 

TJ proved that he had been paying some attention, however, for when they paused, he inquired, "What about Cassie?" 

Ashley noticed that he didn't ask about Phantom, and she wondered if the omission was deliberate, or simply a product of his obvious drowsiness. She looked at Carlos, who shrugged.

"I'll go find her," Ashley volunteered, somehow not ready to sit down and do something so mundane as eat breakfast yet. 

"She'll probably be here in a minute," Carlos said, but she shook her head. 

"I don't mind. Back in a sec!" Ashley darted out into the hallway before either of them could come up with a logical reason for her not to. 

Pausing outside the lift, she couldn't help peeking onto the Bridge. Andros stood at the auxiliary scanner console, fiddling with something tiny and metallic. Ashley smiled, noticing his hair was still loose. 

She ducked into the lift without saying anything, not wanting to interrupt. "Deck four," she requested, and DECA's voice confirmed. 

It did occur to her that Cassie might actually be in her room, but that possibility struck her as highly unlikely. Even assuming Cassie had not woken up until seven, when DECA woke *everyone* up, she would have had plenty of time to get down to the Medical bay and check on Phantom. 

Sure enough, when the lift doors opened, Ashley could hear faint voices emanating from the open doors of the Medical bay. She walked toward them, pausing as she approached to listen more closely. The voices had stopped, and she frowned. 

As she peered into the bay, her eyes widened. Cassie stood facing the door, eyes closed. Phantom was directly behind her, arms encircling her as she leaned back against him, her hands on his. 

Neither seemed aware of her presence, although Phantom was looking almost straight at her. Maybe his eyes were closed, too, or maybe he saw her and simply didn't want to disturb Cassie. Either way, Ashley wasn't going to be the one to disrupt the peaceful scene. 

She tiptoed back the way she'd come, and waited for the lift doors to close before she gave a destination. The Bridge was empty this time, and, returning to the holding bay, she found Andros just sitting down next to her empty place. 

"Good morning," Ashley said, for all the world as though she hadn't seen him just half an hour ago. 

He looked up as she sat down. "Morning, Ash," Andros said with a smile, and she grinned back, knowing that they weren't fooling anyone but not caring. 

"So where's Cassie?" TJ asked, looking up from scrambled eggs smothered in ketchup.

"And Phantom," Carlos added. 

"They're… talking," Ashley said, figuring it wasn't entirely untrue. "They'll be here soon."

She saw TJ and Carlos exchange glances, but she didn't say anything. It gave her a chance to sneak a look at Andros, and she found him doing the same thing. Their eyes met, and she smiled again. 

He smiled back, and she felt his hand fumble for hers under the table. Their fingers touched, and she squeezed his hand. He returned the gesture, and she realized she was staring at him--had been for several moments now, in fact. 

Ashley tried to go back to her breakfast as though nothing had happened, but she didn't miss the second look that passed between Carlos and TJ. *Those two could seriously get on my nerves,* she thought, but was too happy to let it bother her for long. 

Luckily, the arrival of Cassie and Phantom prevented any overt questioning. Cassie went over to the Synthetron, and Phantom lingered for a moment in the doorway. 

"Will you join us for breakfast?" Andros asked, but Ashley got the feeling he was only asking because someone had to, for politeness' sake. 

Her suspicion was confirmed when Phantom shook his head. Morphed, one could go for a long time without eating, and Ashley assumed he had been planning to take advantage of that--since, as Andros had pointed out, he didn't demorph around anyone, and demorphing would be something of a requirement in this situation. 

"I must make sure my ship is properly stabilized," Phantom said, turning his head to watch Cassie cross the room. "It will not take long; inform me when you are ready to leave, and I will come." 

*In other words,* Ashley thought, *he's going to go off by himself until we're ready to actually do something, thereby avoiding any unnecessary socializing.* 

Cassie waved as she sat down, and Phantom nodded to her before he turned and left. *And yet--he must have been planning to do that all along,* she realized. *Which means he walked Cassie up here for no reason except to keep her company…* 

"So?" TJ demanded, as soon as Phantom was out of earshot. 

"So what?" Cassie asked innocently, around a mouthful of toast. 

"You know what I mean," her friend retorted. "Is he going to make it through the day?" 

Cassie stopped, swallowing hard. "That wasn't funny, TJ." 

TJ looked puzzled at first, and Ashley heard Andros draw in a breath, getting ready to jump in if necessary. Then TJ's expression cleared, and he apologized immediately. "That's not what I meant, Cassie, really. I was just asking if he's up to an infiltration assault like the one we're planning for today." 

She continued to stare at him for a moment, then she lowered her gaze, and Ashley saw her eyes slide shut. "Sorry, Teej. I didn't mean to jump on you like that." 

TJ looked around the table, and Ashley shot a sympathetic look in Cassie's direction. He nodded. "Hey, don't worry about it. I wasn't very clear, and you've been under a lot of stress lately." 

"Yeah…" Cassie said softly. Ashley wasn't even sure they were meant to hear it. But Cassie looked up at last, her eyes open and clear, and maybe just a little too bright. "I think he'll be okay. There's nothing we can do, anyway; it's his choice to go or stay." 

"But it's your choice, too," Andros said. "You don't have to go with someone if you don't think they can watch your back." 

"Oh, I'm going," Cassie said vehemently. "*Someone* has to keep him from getting killed."

The word hung over the table ominously, but Cassie didn't even seem to notice. She tore off a piece of toast and crunched on it, clearly lost deep in thought somewhere. 

Ashley glanced at Andros. *We're not going to die,* she protested silently. *We're the Power Rangers. Rangers don't die.* 

*But what if--* She cut off that train of thought before it got any further. Suddenly realizing that Andros was speaking, she tried to put images of destruction out of her mind and focus on the issue at hand. 

"TJ and Carlos will take the other ship," he was saying, pushing his plate away. "Ashley and I will board the nearest one, and anyone who finds any evidence either way for their signal is to contact DECA immediately. She'll alert the rest of us the next time we check in, and we'll have to improvise the rest as we go." 

"How often are we checking in?" TJ asked. 

Andros paused. "Every fifteen minutes," he decided at last. "It seems like a lot, but believe me, fifteen minutes can be a long time when you're injured, captive, or otherwise threatened. 

"All you'll have to do is push a button on your communicator to let us know you're doing all right. Whenever you can, you should also establish an audio link with DECA so we can pass information back and forth, but when you're in a sensitive location--which will probably be most of the time--just use the carrier frequency to let the Megaship know you'll be in touch as soon as you can." 

"What about the homing beacons?" Carlos wanted to know. 

Andros produced the miniature devices seemingly out of thin air. *He *has* to have pockets in that uniform,* Ashley thought, not for the first time. 

"Hide them on you somewhere," Andros said, passing them out. "It doesn't matter where; Astronema doesn't search anything very carefully. But it's probably best for everyone not to have them in the same place." 

Ashley heard the unspoken thought behind his statement: *in case some of us are captured, there's a better chance of a least one of the captives keeping their homing device that way.* 

The rest of the meal was somewhat subdued, and Ashley couldn't really blame anyone for not talking. She didn't feel that cheery herself, not after their previous conversations. 

They all trooped up to the Bridge afterwards, only to find that calling Phantom was unnecessary, as he was already there. Ashley had time to wonder about that, while Andros gave every other person a scanner and reviewed basic operations with them. She did pay attention to his explanations, in a half-hearted way, knowing that he would be reading it most of the time and confident that she could figure out anything she needed to know. 

The six of them gathered together while he talked, drawing support from each other's company as much as the technical reminders. Finally, there was nothing left to say, and they all just stood there, looking at each other. 

"Good luck, guys," TJ said at last, putting his hand out into the middle of the group.

"Be safe," Carlos added, covering TJ's hand with his own. 

"Let's find Zordon," Cassie chimed in, extending her hand as well. 

"See you at lunch," Ashley remarked flippantly, adding her hand to the pile. 

"Let's do it," Andros said, putting his hand on top of hers. 

They all looked at Phantom. Without a word, he did the same, and the circle was complete. They looked at each other, counting down simultaneously in their minds. *Two… one…* 

"Power Rangers!" the team exclaimed, and Ashley, TJ, and Cassie jumped, hi-fiving each other and then the rest of the Rangers. 

Andros turned away from the group to alter something on the console, and when he looked back, they were all waiting expectantly. He nodded to Cassie and Phantom, and the two stepped a little apart from the others. Cassie flipped her morpher open, and the numbers *three*, *three*, *five*, sounded clearly in the quiet room. 

A trail of pink sparkles obscured her form briefly, and the Pink Ranger stood, morphed, at Phantom's side. She looked up at him, and he returned the gaze for an instant before they both, at some unspoken signal, turned toward Andros and nodded. He punched another series of buttons on the console, and the two of them disappeared in a flash of shadowy pink. 

TJ and Carlos punched their morphing codes into their astromorphers simultaneously, transforming in a hail of blue and black sparkles. TJ saluted, and, at Carlos's nod, Andros triggered the teleportation sequence from the console. Cobalt flared and vanished, leaving Ashley and Andros alone on the Megaship. 

Ashley touched the catch on her morpher, but Andros caught her wrist before she could enter the numbers. "Ash…" 

Surprised, she looked up. He was regarding her with a worried expression, and she wondered what could be wrong. *Other than this mission…* 

"Be careful, all right?" he said at last. 

She smiled. "That's what you're along for, isn't it?" 

His mouth quirked, but he insisted, "I'm serious. Don't get hurt, all right? I don't want to find out what I'd be like if something happened to you." 

"Same goes for you," Ashley murmured, stepping forward to put her arms around him.

For the first time, he returned her embrace without hesitation. "Be safe," she whispered, repeating Carlos's earlier admonition. She didn't see him close his eyes, but she felt his grip tighten just before he let go. 

He stepped back, and they stared into each others eyes for a moment. *Please be safe,* she repeated silently, vowing to stay at his side for as long as it took to see them both through this.

Finally, Andros looked down at the console. The last thing she saw was his fingers tapping in the teleporation sequence before her world was enveloped in a haze of glimmering gold.

_fin_


	8. Fifteen Minutes

_Disclaimer: Although there is only one explosion in this story--and a rather minor one, at that--it was nonetheless inspired by Saban's Power Rangers, for which I can take no credit._

**Fifteen Minutes  
by Starhawk**

TJ looked over his shoulder for what felt like the hundredth time since he and Carlos had boarded the ship. *I hate this,* he thought to himself, careful not to speak aloud. 

They had seen no sign of activity in the short time they had been exploring, save the silent blip on the scanner Carlos held. The interdimensional distortion--real or artificially created--came through loud and clear, but they had encountered no resistance as they worked their way toward it. 

Approaching a corridor junction, the two slowed. Carlos overlaid an infrared scanner sweep across the dimensional tracking grid, and the screen filled with color. Nothing warm and moving showed around the corner, or in any direction for more than fifty meters. 

TJ held up his hand, pointing at his wrist to remind his partner about their check-in. Carlos shook his head, and tapped the simple code on his morpher that would send an "ok" signal back to the Megaship. 

TJ followed his example, unable to blame him for not wanting to make the noise required for a vocal exchange with DECA. The conditions *seemed* ideal--no distractions, eavesdroppers, or any apparent possibility of detection--but there was something about the perfect quietness that set TJ's teeth on edge. 

*It's almost too quiet,* TJ thought, with a wry grin for the cliché. *There's something spooky about this. It's like they're avoiding us; as though we were expected, somehow.* 

He touched a couple buttons on his own communicator, and a flash told him the link had been successful. Carlos spared one more glance for the scanner before gesturing to the corner. TJ nodded, and they crept forward once more, growing increasingly wary with every step. 

***

The faint slipping sound alerted Ashley, who had learned over the course of her Turbo Ranger career to recognize that noise anywhere. She tapped Andros's shoulder, not wanting to startle him but not willing to risk speaking aloud. 

He looked up from the scanner immediately, and she nodded at a nearby corridor. Without giving him time to wonder what she meant, Ashley took his arm and tugged him down the alternate and apparently (by the dust content) semi-used section of hall. By now the sound of pirahnatron footsteps was clearly audible, and Andros flattened himself against the wall beside her. 

*One thing about pirahnatrons,* Ashley thought, holding her breath as the contingent marched past, *they have lousy peripheral vision when they're out of the water.* 

Though their check-in was overdue, neither moved until the sound of pirahnatrons had once more faded into the background hum of machinery. Then Andros held up his wrist, and she nodded. Two "ok" signals shot simultaneously across the void of space to the Megaship's EM sensors. 

***

Cassie frowned at her scanner. For an instrument specifically calibrated for sensing dimensional distortion, it was being remarkably unhelpful. 

She and Phantom had ducked into one of the alcoves that seemed to dot the corridors. He stood just inside, keeping watch on the hallway while she tried to clean up the echoes that appeared on the scanner every time they moved. The closer they traveled to the original signal, the more duplicates showed up--and vanished, just as quickly. Finally, the scanner had become almost impossible to read, and she had called a halt to try and do something about it. 

Another false signal popped up when she turned, and Cassie shook her head. *What's wrong with this thing?* she wondered, exasperated. 

She did, at last, get the scanner to isolate the central signal and give it priority on the display. Moving forward as quietly as she could, Cassie flashed a thumbs-up when Phantom turned to look at her. Pointing at the scanner, she held her thumb and forefinger a centimeter apart to indicate that they were close, and he nodded. 

It took less time than she had anticipated to reach the signal's source--at least according to the scanner. As for any kind of visual identification… 

Cassie came to an abrupt halt as they rounded the corner and found themselves staring down a short hallway the opened outward in all directions at the opposite end. Up, down, left, right--the hall seemed to let out onto an observation deck for the area below. A supervisor's walkway, perhaps; it was about ten meters up and hugged the wall all the way around the cavernous expanse of work area. 

She exchanged glances with Phantom, and they moved forward cautiously, trying to get close enough to peer out over the edge. Unfortunately, every part of the walkway was visible from every other part, and some of it could be seen from the ground below. They stopped just before the shadows of the hall would have ceased to conceal them, and stared out across a bay that was almost half the size of the Megaship. 

Pirahnatrons scurried across the floor, and cargohaulers moved more slowly along the outside walls. Catwalks started about five meters up, stretching across the room and continuing upwards to run almost directly underneath the observation walkway on which they stood. Overhead, multiple points of light were arrayed on the domed ceiling, illuminating the chaos below. 

Cassie shook her head, not knowing or truly caring what the purpose of all the activity was. What bothered her more was the fact that she could see no hint of any kind of interdimensional time warp. 

Looking back down at the scanner, she confirmed their location. *We should be right on top of it,* she thought. *Even if it's artificial--what in that mess could be producing the signal?* 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Phantom move slightly, and she looked over at him. He held up his right wrist, tapping it with two fingers, and she nodded. 

They withdrew back down the hallway a little, and Cassie rolled back her glove to expose her morpher. Keying the output volume down, she linked up with the Megaship. "DECA, this is Cassie," she said quietly, counting on the noise echoing out of the work bay to keep her voice from being heard by anything but the communicator's sensitive microphone. "Phantom and I are both all right, but we haven't found the source of the distortion yet." 

A second flicker of red light indicated an incoming transmission. "Acknowledged, Cassie," DECA's calm voice replied. 

Satisfied with that response, knowing DECA would have told them if the others were in trouble, Cassie signed off. She glanced at Phantom, and found him looking down the hallway, away from the work bay. 

Following his gaze, she saw nothing but dimly lit corridor, so she turned her attention back to the scanner. 

The thing was still giving off false indicators, but the original distortion now showed up as a steady, green-tinged glow amid yellow echoes. She was adjusting the scanner for the close-range accuracy they would need to pinpoint the source when she noticed Phantom stiffen. 

She heard the scuffling even before she could look, and time seemed to slow as a sinking feeling descended on her stomach. Her gaze tracked inevitably down the hallway, and the brief flare of blaster fire seared her vision as she turned. 

*One minute…* 

She heard Phantom shout her name, and felt a weight crash against her side as sudden, numbing pain spread across her chest. She didn't even realize she was falling until the hard grid surface of the deck bruised her shoulder and hip, pinning her left arm beneath her. 

Gasping for breath, Cassie tried to roll, knowing their attackers wouldn't stop at one shot. The dead weight on top of her registered then, and she felt Phantom slide off her as she struggled to sit up. She caught at his shoulder, staring in disbelief at the burn marks on his armor. 

Another blast streaked by overhead, and she ducked instinctively, going for her astroblaster. Clenching her teeth as another wave of pain hit her, she crouched in front of Phantom and leveled her blaster at the shadowy forms lurking by the corridor junction. *The same one we just came through,* she thought distantly. *Were we being followed the whole time?* 

She fired blindly, hoping to discourage anyone from coming further down the hallway. She was rewarded by a solid thunk as one of the bolder pirahnatrons fell, caught by her random fire. The others drew back, but not without several parting shots that cut into the bulkhead beside her as she dove out of the way. 

Turning her head, she saw Phantom still prone on the deck, and fear raced through her--a fear completely unlike the rush of adrenaline that the ambush had triggered. She crawled closer, pushing herself to her knees so she could look down at him. 

The burn marks on his left shoulder and chest stared back at her accusingly, and she glanced down at her own chest. Nothing--her uniform was completely unscathed, and the pain she had felt earlier was nearly gone. 

*You saved my life,* she realized finally. *That blast was meant for me…* 

She couldn't tell if he was conscious, or even breathing, but there was no way she was leaving him here. Their attackers would be back before long--she'd done nothing but buy the two of them some more time, and they would need every second of it. 

Cassie reached out to touch his shoulder, wanting to know if he could move under anything like his own power. She stopped short, staring in shock as his armor started to shimmer in the dim lighting. 

She rubbed her eyes, thinking they were tearing, but the hazy quality of his form did not resolve itself into the familiar outlines she had known for more than a year. Instead, his armor seemed to *shift* somehow, becoming more and more insubstantial, until she was seeing more than just the shadow he had always appeared to be. 

Phantom demorphed completely. 

*Two minutes…* 

A blast ricocheted off the wall across from her, and Cassie flinched. *They're faster than I would have guessed,* she thought, grabbing Phantom's arms and pulling him down the hall in the other direction. She had no idea where they would go, but they certainly couldn't stay here. 

The hallway widened sharply just before it let out onto the observation walkway of the work bay, and Cassie managed to duck around the corner with Phantom in tow as the fire resumed in earnest. *Since when do pirahnatrons carry sidearms?* she demanded silently, leaning forward to look back the way they'd come. 

A shot that practically singed her helmet greeted her, and she pulled back instantly. The brief view had shown pirahnatrons approaching unchecked down the corridor toward her, obviously motivated by something scarier behind them than Cassie was in front of them. 

*And I think I'd rather not meet whatever it is,* Cassie thought, cocking her astroblaster. She took a deep breath and swung out into the hallway on one knee, the other bracing her firing arm. She fired as rapidly as she could pull the trigger into the advancing squad, and had the satisfaction of seeing most of the front line stagger and fall as she decimated their ranks. 

Unfortunately, the pirahnatrons were as kamikaze-minded as she was, and they just kept coming. The only good news was that she seemed to have hit most of the ones carrying blaster weapons, and the firefight was quickly becoming one-sided. 

She spared a single glance for Phantom, still out of their line of sight, and her eye fell on the ruby that hung on a gold chain around his neck. Except for that, there was no identifying him as the Phantom Ranger, and the thought occurred to her that anonymity would work to his advantage if they were captured. 

Pushing out of her defensive stance, she skidded the few steps to his side and wrapped her fingers around the ruby. She hesitated then, remembering the last time he'd been without it, but slapping finlike footsteps convinced her and she quickly pulled it off over his head. 

*Three minutes…* 

Slipping the necklace into her boot, Cassie stood and stepped out into the hallway in time to see pirahnatrons only meters away and closing. "Satellite Stunner!" Cassie exclaimed, and holding out her left hand. 

She'd never been particularly ambidextrous, but at this point it didn't matter. There were so many pirahnatrons that she was bound to hit something with any shot she got off. Even against the now weaponless army, she knew she would be overwhelmed eventually. 

Sooner than she'd expected, the squad had closed around her, rendering her blaster and stunner next to useless in the close quarters. As she glanced down for a split second to reholster the astroblaster, a pirahnatron went for her stunner and she flung her hand away. 

The fingers caught on her morpher, still exposed from her earlier communication with DECA, and she felt the wristband snap. Cassie felt the Power ebbing out of her, and she looked down in horror as she demorphed. 

*This is *not* good,* she thought fervently, instinctively dodging a blow. If she couldn't hold them off with her powers, she certainly wouldn't be able to do it now… 

As she went to block another blow, her left fist came up in guard position and she realized she still clutched her Satellite Stunner in her hand. The discovery did her little good, however, as another pirahnatron grabbed her shoulder and tried to hold her in place for his friend. 

*Right,* Cassie scoffed to herself. *In your dreams!* Whirling, she tossed her stunner from hand to hand and shrugged out of her jacket, managing to evade both grasping hands and incoming fists. 

As she straightened once more, guard at the ready, her eye caught the control panel at the end of the hallway and a sudden wild hope dawned. *If the work bay ever needed to be sealed off from the rest of the ship…* 

Cassie started backing up--not difficult, considering that the narrowness of the hallway had kept the majority of her attackers from surrounding her, and the assault was still concentrated in front of her. She sensed rather than saw the fist flying toward her from behind, and ducked past the last pirahnatron and out onto the edge of the observation walkway. 

Hefting the stunner with her good hand, she sited toward the control panel and fired. The panel exploded in a shower of sparks, and she thanked any deity that cared to listen when a bulkhead slammed into place between her and the pirahnatrons. 

*Four minutes…* 

She drew in a deep breath, and turned to Phantom. Her eyes widened as she remembered the ruby, and she looked down automatically. But she could still feel the stone digging into her ankle, and the discomfort was almost as welcome as the sight of the descending bulkhead had been. 

The sound of fists pounding on the aforementioned bulkhead brought her back to the issue of refuge, since this one was obviously temporary at best. Her gaze roved across the bay as she shoved the grip of her stunner into her belt, and she noted distractedly that the hustle below had not abated in the slightest. No one appeared to take any notice of them. 

The bulkhead behind her hissed, and she swung around in alarm. It had raised several centimeters above the floor, and she suspected whoever was on the other side wouldn't stop there. She debated for a second, wondering whether to try and lift Phantom, but dismissed that idea almost immediately.

"Sorry," she apologized wryly, dragging him over the solid decking. "But I'm not morphed, and you're not even semi-conscious--there's no *way* I can carry you far." 

Another ominous hiss echoed from the bulkhead they'd left behind, and she winced. *All right,* she thought, *we need to be out of sight *now*.* 

There was another opening coming up on her left, and she peered over her shoulder at it. The portal was indistinguishable from the one they'd just come from--with the notable exception of a lack of pirahnatrons. 

"Look's like that's as good as it gets," she muttered, shuffling backwards into the hall. They were out of sight--*but what now?* It wouldn't take the pirahnatrons long to get that bulkhead all the way up, and there was always the possibility that a completely different group might stumble on them… 

She glanced down the hallway--and stopped. *That grating…* Leaving Phantom, she darted over to it and tugged. With some effort, it swung open, revealing what looked like a maintenance shaft of some sort. 

*Five minutes…* 

Cassie grunted as she dragged Phantom into the tunnel. "Next time, *I* get to be unconscious and *you* can do the work," she whispered, pulling the grate shut with a clang. 

The cramped area of the maintenance shaft afforded her little room to maneuver, but with a combination of crawling and tugging she managed to get the two of them out of line-of-sight from the hallway in a niche whose use she couldn't fathom. When it came right down to it, though, she didn't *care* what it was used for, so long as it sheltered them from the prying eyes of pirahnatrons. 

Leaning back against the side of the alcove, Cassie let out a heavy sigh. Her heart was still pounding, and she heard pirahnatrons in every whisper of air, but her rational mind told her they were safe for a few minutes. 

She glanced over at Phantom, sprawled motionless beside her, and her breath caught. She stared, seeing him--*really* seeing him--for the first time since he'd demorphed. 

He looked human enough, with light skin and dark hair--a strange combination, she thought, until it occurred to her to wonder how much time he spent in the sun. He wore dark pants and a simple black tunic, belted at the waist, and she had to smile. *Black… I should have guessed.* 

He also looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't pin the feeling down more than that. "Phantom?" she whispered, suddenly uncertain about the name. Though it had been appropriate for the Ranger she had known before, she wasn't sure it fit the person she saw in front of her now.

He didn't stir--though she had almost expected him to--but the slight rise and fall of his chest comforted her. She remembered the ruby, suddenly, still grinding against her ankle, and she fished it out. Holding the stone in the palm of her hand, she let the gold chain slide through her fingers. 

The links sparkled in the dim lighting, and she edged closer to him. Gently, Cassie lifted his head and slipped the necklace back on. It fell against his tunic as though it belonged there--which, she supposed, it did--and she found herself staring again. 

"Who are you?" she wondered quietly, for maybe the fiftieth time. 

Footsteps sounded in the corridor, and she froze. 

*Six minutes…* 

It took several seconds to convince herself that the noise wasn't her imagination, but by then it was unmistakable. Something--a large number of somethings--was moving down the corridor off of which their tunnel branched. 

Inching back toward the wall again, she tugged Phantom with her, letting his head rest on her lap as she leaned back. A flicker of light caught on the opposite wall, and she held her breath, watching it dance up and down the tunnel and reflect into their alcove. 

Phantom picked that moment to move, mumbling something that she couldn't make out as he shivered. Cassie put a finger over his lips and leaned down to breath, "Shh," in his ear. She was aware of the intimacy of the action even as she did it, but it was the only way. 

To her relief, he quieted immediately, and she waited, hunched over, for the light to intensify. She refused to move, trying not to even breathe as the unsteady illumination came searching. 

Then it was gone, and she found she still couldn't move. What if they were still out there, just waiting for her to decide they'd left and make a break for it? *Not that there's anywhere to go,* Cassie thought, dismayed. *We're alone on an alien ship--no way to get off, no way to call for help, and no one will even know we're missing for another ten minutes.* 

Phantom stirred again, and she focused on his face, only inches from hers, and wondered what would happen if he opened his eyes. Of course he wouldn't--probably couldn't, even, if he was injured on top of his exhausted state, but she couldn't help wondering. 

Phantom's eyes opened, and he blinked slowly up at her. 

*Seven minutes…* 

Cassie froze again, held in place as surely as she had been when the light had shone down the tunnel toward them. Neither moved for several seconds, and she realized suddenly that her fingers still rested gently on his face. 

She moved her hand, not meaning the gesture to be a caress but knowing it had turned into one anyway. His lips quirked, and she saw him struggle to draw in a breath. "I'm not--" he started to whisper, voice catching. "I am not awake enough… to--to enjoy this properly." 

Cassie blushed, surprised and pleased at the same time. He lifted one hand to cover hers, and she started at the contact. *No gloves,* she thought, realizing for the first time that they had finally touched with nothing between them. 

His expression was startled as well, and he was staring at their hands. "I am… not morphed?" 

He sounded suddenly vulnerable and almost lost without his uniform. She shook her head, her hair falling further forward over her shoulders. "Do you remember us being ambushed?" 

His gaze returned to hers, eyes still wide and a little worried. He nodded slowly, moving his head only a fraction and not taking his eyes off hers. "They shot--" he swallowed. "They shot at you…" 

"Yeah," Cassie whispered. "You pushed me out of the way. You were hit--" She stopped too, glancing inadvertently at his chest. "Are you all right?" 

He closed his eyes briefly, seeming to remember only then the pain he should have been in. "I… I don't know," he admitted, voice still hoarse and barely above a whisper. 

She waited, but he didn't say anything more. "Can you sit up?" she asked at last. 

He tried immediately, struggling to get his elbows under him and push himself up. Cassie moved back a little and helped him prop himself against the wall, regarding him critically as he did so. "Now take off your shirt." 

He gave her a startled look, and she blushed. "If you're not going to tell me," she said firmly, "I want to see for myself." 

He didn't argue, just unbelted his tunic and started to pull it off over his head. She saw him wince at the movement, and heard his sharp intake of breath when he tried to lift his left arm above shoulder level. 

"Stop it," she begged at last, unable to stand his obvious discomfort. Leaning forward, she peeled the tunic back herself without making him take it all the way off. He relaxed a little, letting his arms fall, and she inspected the discoloration on his chest. 

*No blood, at least,* she thought, thankful that he didn't seem to have suffered anything more than impact wounds. "You're going to have some amazing bruises," she murmured, unable to suppress the instinct to cover them with her hand, as though by touching the injuries she could make them heal faster. 

*Eight minutes…* 

He shivered at her touch, and she looked up to find him staring at her intently. "When--" He stopped, then tried again. "When did I demorph?" 

"Right after the blaster fire hit you," she answered, conscious of her hand still on his chest. Removing it, she let his tunic fall, and asked, "Does it matter?" 

He looked down, hiding his eyes, and she realized then how much she had been depending on them to judge his reactions. How easy it had been to interpret expressions she'd never seen before--but she still had the advantage of all those previous months, and she found she could read him as well as she had before. 

Troubled, he whispered, "I am not… the way you knew me before." 

She had to smile. "Funny," Cassie murmured. "I was just thinking that you're exactly the way you've always been." *Stubborn and uncommunicative,* she added wryly, but she didn't say so aloud. 

Taking a deep breath--and only wincing a little--he met her gaze again. He started to return her smile, and she thought how long she had wished to see that particular expression. Before she could stop herself, she reached out and ran her fingers over his lips again, trying to capture the moment. 

To her surprise, he echoed her gesture, and, on impulse, she kissed his fingers. His hand trembled slightly, but he stared steadily back at her, almost daring her to move. She couldn't resist the offer--she edged closer, still on her knees, and let her hand slide across his cheek, making it perfectly clear what she intended to do. 

He didn't look away. Close enough to feel his breath on her face, she whispered, "You know how I feel about you, don't you?" 

The seconds stretched out as he just gazed at her. Finally, he nodded incrementally, as though the movement might shatter something precious. Still not certain of his reaction, she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his. 

He continued to hold absolutely still for more than a second, but in moments he was responding, and with a heat she hadn't expected. Their mouths melded together, and she rested her hands on his shoulders, trying to be careful of his injuries. 

He would have none of it, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close, making her bare arms tingle where his skin touched hers. The kiss went on and on, until she broke away, gasping for air. He smiled, and then he kissed her again, and she lost herself in the feeling of his hands on her back and his mouth on hers. 

*Nine minutes…* 

"No," Cassie murmured when he pulled away at last, and he hesitated. He could stay here with her for the rest of the day, for the rest of his life, even, but if he did, neither of their lives would be as long as they were meant to be. 

Still… he couldn't ignore the pleading look on her face, and he couldn't deny that he wanted nothing more than to hold her and touch her for just a little longer. Giving in, he covered her mouth with his once more and kissed her hungrily. 

She melted against him, and he knew he was lost. He would stay here as long as she wanted, and though he knew distantly that there was something else they should be doing, he knew too that it would hurt his heart when he finally had to let her go. 

Blood pounding in his ears, he almost didn't hear her whisper, "Phantom?" 

He turned his head gently, letting her catch her breath. "Yes?" 

"What's your name?" Cassie asked quietly. 

He hadn't given his name freely in years, but he told her now without hesitation, realizing as he did so just how much power she had over him. "I was born Saryn, of Elisia." 

She tilted her head, her black hair spilling across her shoulders as she moved and standing out in stark contrast to her pink tank top. "Elisia is your mother?" 

"My world," he corrected, forcing himself to concentrate on her words, rather than her proximity. 

She smiled a contented smile that warmed his heart and brushed her fingers across his chin, tracing the line of his jaw. He swallowed, trying very hard not to react as he had before, so as not to scare her. 

"Thank you for your name, Saryn of Elisia," she murmured. 

"Anything for you," he responded quietly, knowing even as he said it that it was true. 

She leaned in and kissed him once more, a touch as gentle as her expression but somehow as suggestive and passionate as any of his. She almost destroyed his hard-won restraint right there, but he closed his eyes and managed to survive, somehow, until she pulled away. 

*Ten minutes…* 

He knew they had to separate then, for the sake of his sanity if nothing else. She was sitting nearly in his lap, and with her arms around him and the warmth of her body radiating into him, he could end up doing something unforgivable if she didn't move. 

"Cassie," he whispered, but she solved the problem before he could say anything more. 

Settling back into a crouch, she put enough distance between them that he could think again. "Yes?" she replied innocently. 

It occurred to him to wonder if she had been as affected as he, but he probably didn't want to know if the answer was negative. *I'll wait,* he silently promised himself and her. *Someday, when you're ready… I won't do *anything* to jeopardize your trust.* 

"Nothing," he managed to say, unable to keep from wincing as he tried to straighten. 

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, contrite but making no move to touch him. *Maybe she does know…* "Are you all right?" 

He nodded, but without his visor the smile on his face was obvious to her. 

"Aside from the fact that you need about three days' uninterrupted sleep," she allowed wryly, looking more closely at him. "And you probably feel like you've been hit by a small starfighter… and we're stuck on an alien ship with no way of getting in touch with the others…" 

He glanced at her wrist, the absence of her morpher only now registering. He didn't ask how she'd lost it, and she didn't volunteer, but he did raise an eyebrow in her direction. "Your homing device?" 

She shook her head. "It was on my jacket, which is currently in the possession of some extremely unhappy pirahnatrons." 

"Mine was on my uniform," he said ruefully. "I was not expecting to demorph--I suspect it's still on the floor near where I fell. If the blaster impact did not make it completely inoperable," he added as an afterthought. 

Neither spoke for a moment. Then Cassie shook herself, and said, "Right. Well, the first thing we need to do is get to a communications array. From there we can contact DECA, and she can get us out of here." 

*Eleven minutes…* 

She gave him an evil look when he started to protest. "I know what you're going to say, and first off, you're not in any condition to go *anywhere* except the Medical bay on the Megaship, and that won't happen unless we can get in touch with DECA. 

"Second, I don't have my morpher, so even if you could convince me to leave you behind somewhere--which you can't!" He had to smile at her exclamation. "I wouldn't be in great shape to defend myself if I got caught going after that distortion signal anyway," she continued. 

"I don't think we have a choice," Cassie informed him, meeting his gaze without hesitation. "We have to abort the mission." 

He couldn't bring himself to agree right away--but he knew she was right. He suspected he would barely be able to walk, even with her help, and there was no way he would let her go after that signal alone. 

So, with a sigh, he conceded defeat. "You're right," he admitted quietly. She nodded, as though she had expected no less, and he couldn't help watching the way her hair shone even in the dim light. 

*Stop it,* he ordered himself, looking away as Cassie crawled past him toward the opening of their niche. *She is beautiful; there is no denying that. But she has *always* been beautiful. Concentrate…* 

He mentally trailed off when she turned her brown eyes in his direction. "Can you crawl?" she whispered. "I had to drag you in here, and I don't think you'd appreciate leaving the same way you entered." 

Taking a deep breath, he offered a one-shouldered shrug. "We will find out." 

He saw her roll her eyes as he pushed away from the wall and onto his knees. With an effort, he caught his weight with his hands, careful to keep his expression hidden so she wouldn't see his grimace as pain shot through his left shoulder. 

"I saw that," she chided, reaching out to stroke his injured shoulder with a gentle touch. "Go easy on that shoulder, all right?" 

"Yes, Cassie," he murmured, teasing her with the same words he had used the day before in the Medical bay. 

*Twelve minutes…* 

"I wouldn't have to mother you if you'd take better care of yourself," she responded, amusement in her tone as she shuffled out into the service tunnel.

"Next time," he answered, following considerably more slowly, "You may take the blaster shot for me." 

He heard her startled giggle from ahead, and he smiled to himself. The smile faded as his shoulder complained, but he stiffened his arm and kept going, clenching his jaw against the discomfort. 

She was waiting by the grate that connected this tunnel to the outside corridor, and her solemn expression told him that she had been watching his progress. She said nothing, however, as she shoved the grate open and climbed out, turning back to assist him. 

As he shifted to get his legs under him, gravity seemed to change on him, and he knew he wouldn't be standing on his own. She waited while the world settled down, and finally he let himself slide forward out of the tunnel so his feet were on the ground. 

Again, the movement played havoc with his balance, and he stumbled against the wall. *Better that than nothing,* he supposed, watching Cassie close the grate. 

*Thirteen minutes…* 

When it was sealed to her satisfaction, she turned to him. He nodded and pushed away from the wall, knowing full well he wouldn't be able to walk. She darted over to him and took his right arm, wrapping it around her shoulders before he could stumble again. 

"That's not what I meant," she hissed at him. "I was only asking if you were ready--I *know* you can't walk!" 

"How--" he began in a whisper, then shook his head, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. "Do not answer that." 

Her left arm behind his back, she let go of his hand with her right and tapped her temple with two fingers. The questioning look she shot at him unnerved him, but she didn't seem particularly upset, so he just nodded. "I think so," he murmured. "Do you… do you believe?" 

She didn't answer right away. "I'm starting to," she admitted at last. "There are things I *know*, that I shouldn't. I can't explain them, except for telepathy." 

"Empathy," he corrected. 

She just shook her head. "Sometime, you're going to have to explain the difference to me." 

*Fourteen minutes…* 

They fell silent as they approached a junction identical in every noticeable way to the one they had passed in the last corridor, just before they'd been ambushed. Cassie took her hand off his right arm once more to snag the scanner from her belt clip. He had to wonder when she'd had time to attach it properly--it had been in her hand right up until the first shot had been fired. 

He pushed the thought from his mind, only to have it replaced by an equally inconsequential musing: her Satellite Stunner was also on her belt, yet she was no longer in possession of her morpher. How had the weapon stayed with her after the Power was gone? 

*My focus is slipping,* he realized, feeling Cassie shift beside him to support more of his weight. 

"There," she whispered, tapping the display with her thumb. She had reconfigured the scanner to detect large quantities of radio signal, hyperboosted or not, and, even with its current short-range capacity, the instrument had located a possible communications array and indicated it on the display. "That's where we need to be…" 

*Fifteen minutes…* 

***

The scanner had been giving Andros problems for the last half-hour. No sooner had he isolated one source of distortion than another would appear while the first vanished. It was as though the distortion were actually emanating from the ship itself, rather than a point on the ship, so he had recalibrated the scanner for maximum range and set it to plot out every indication it received.

Ashley fidgeted beside him. Technologically inclined though she was--and she had been a help in altering the scanner's parameters--this waiting around was starting to bother her. He knew, because he had seen it before on the Megaship often enough. Waiting for *anything* just wasn't Ashley's style--she was very much a "go out and make it come to you" kind of person. 

Setting the scanner down for a moment, he reached out and squeezed her hand. She turned toward him, and he nodded, knowing nothing else would be conveyed by their visors. Her shoulders rose and fell in an exaggerated sigh, and he grinned. *Well, almost nothing else.* Leave it to Ashley to find a way to express herself. 

She tapped her wrist, and he nodded again. Looking around their wide open and almost completely unprotected position, he knew she would use the "ok" signal again, however much she might wish to check on the others through DECA. Andros did the same, tapping the simple signal into his communicator and returning to the scanner without waiting for the Megaship's acknowledging flash. 

***

Carlos turned the scanner in TJ's direction, and the Blue Ranger flashed him a thumbs-up. The two were, according to the sensing instrument, only meters away from the ship's resident dimension distorter. *Now to get through this bulkhead,* Carlos thought, just as his ears caught the sound of pirahnatron finfeet on the floor somewhere down the corridor. 

He and TJ looked at each other, and he knew the other Ranger had heard the noise as well. They turned from their ultimate obstacle and prepared to deal first with the current threat. 

*That means a plan,* Carlos thought grimly, his mind racing. Staring across the corridor, he shot a look down the main branch that ran perpendicular to their hallway and led directly away from the door in front of which they stood. 

The idea must have occurred to them at the same time, for he and TJ both dove for the corridor before the pirahnatron's weaker vision could detect them. TJ pointed to the pipes running over their heads, and Carlos nodded. 

The pirahnatron continued on, oblivious, until it passed the entrance to the corridor in which Carlos stood. Then it had the misfortune to glance his way, and he waved cheerfully at it. The pirahnatron's limited mental capacity caused it to pause in confusion for a moment, and then, predictably, charge the Black Ranger without sounding any kind of alarm. 

Carlos just watched it come, grinning like an idiot. He hated being bait, just on general principles, but it afforded him an excellent view of the pirahnatron's shock when TJ swung down from the ceiling and slammed his feet into the fish being's chest. It collapsed against the bulkhead they had been contemplating earlier, and TJ held up his hand for Carlos to hi-five. 

The Black Ranger did so, albeit quietly, due to the fact that they were both wearing gloves. "Check-in," TJ reminded him quietly, as he turned back to the bulkhead, and Carlos nodded reluctantly. 

His communicator, already set to minimum intensity, activated as soon as he slapped it. "DECA, it's Carlos," he told his wrist. "TJ's with me, and we're almost on top of the distortion." 

A red flash indicated near simultaneous receipt and transmission. "Carlos," DECA's voice came back, and he frowned. *Shouldn't she just say acknowledged or something?* he wondered, looking over his shoulder apprehensively. 

"The homing device worn by the Phantom Ranger has stopped transmitting," the computer announced, as though declaring the time of day. 

"What?!" TJ's hiss carried clearly to Carlos, and he motioned at his friend to lower his voice. 

"DECA, have either Phantom or Cassie checked in yet?" Carlos asked, trying to stay reasonable. 

"No," DECA answered. 

"Bring her homing device back, right now," TJ demanded, and there was a brief pause while DECA complied. 

"Cassie was not wearing her homing device at the time of teleportation," DECA told them after a moment. 

TJ swore, and Carlos looked at him in surprise. "Look, we're going to have to go after them," he told Carlos. 

The Black Ranger hesitated, giving the bulkhead in front of them one last look. But there was never any doubt in his mind--of course they would go. That's what Rangers did. Somewhere below the "always fight for good" rule and above "never escalate a fight" was the unspoken law that bound every team together tighter than family: "defend and protect your teammates." 

Carlos clipped the scanner to his belt, and nodded once to TJ. "Let's go."

_fin_


	9. Alone

_Disclaimer: I owe Saban thanks, for creating the Power Rangers, and Dawn as well, for her insight into TJ's character. Thanks! :)_

**Alone  
by Starhawk**

On board a ship almost exactly like the one he'd just left, TJ stood just outside the open doors to the Bridge. They had tracked the signal from Cassie's morpher to this location--but as he had feared, Cassie didn't seem to be anywhere in the vicinity. Inside, Divatox's voice was ranting over the comm channel while the ship's commander cringed in the face of her wrath. 

"What do you mean, you LET her get AWAY?!" the space pirate shrieked at the top of her lungs. "How much trouble can one little Ranger be? What are you DOING over there--SLEEPING!?" 

*Well, she hasn't changed,* TJ reflected, looking toward Carlos. The Black Ranger held a position identical to TJ's, on the opposite side of the doors. He cocked his head toward the sound of their old rival's temper tantrum, and TJ nodded. 

Holding up three fingers, Carlos started a silent countdown. TJ tensed, and when the last finger went down, the two of them swung around the doorframe and lunged onto the Bridge. TJ took out the communications console as soon as he had a clear shot, and Divatox's furious expression vanished from the forward viewscreen. 

Meanwhile, Carlos rained blaster fire on the pirahnatrons, who still didn't seem to be able to grasp what was happening. The ship's commander was yelling at them from where he cowered beneath one of the consoles, to little effect. Pirahnatrons simply weren't equipped for initiative, and they didn't respond well to situations that hadn't been planned out in advance. 

TJ fired several more times, more to add to the chaos than with the intent of actually hitting anything. But Carlos had sufficiently intimidated the Bridge crew, and as their blaster fire trailed off, TJ strode toward the commander with no fear of being stopped. 

Thus far, he had kept images of Cassie, unconscious or imprisoned somewhere, out of his mind by concentrating only on the action around him. Now, however, the Bridge was almost silent as he paced across its length, and he couldn't forget that it was her life at stake if he and Carlos failed. 

The being quivered beneath his console, and TJ ground to a halt directly in front of him, siting down his astroblaster at the alien's face. "Tell me where the Pink Ranger is," he growled, not in the mood for anything more civil. 

The commander stuttered something incoherent, and TJ shifted impatiently. Cocking his blaster, he demanded, "Tell me!" 

"TJ," Carlos's voice cut in. "Over here." 

His glare, still focused on the commander's face, didn't lessen. "What did you find?" 

"There's a disturbance two decks down," Carlos answered, and TJ risked a look over his shoulder. Carlos stood at one of the control panels, apparently reading a status report from elsewhere on the ship. 

"Cassie?" TJ asked, backing away from the commander but keeping his astroblaster at the ready. 

Even from where he stood, he caught the "duh" look Carlos sent in his direction. "Who else would dare, on one of Divatox's ships?" 

"Right." TJ scanned the Bridge, saw Carlos hold up Cassie's morpher, and nodded. "What are we going to do with them?" 

"Lock 'em in," Carlos opined. "With the comm system down, what are they going to do?" 

Ready to be gone, TJ just nodded again. "Suits me. Let's get going." 

Before he followed Carlos, though, he sent a single parting shot in the commander's direction. The blast impacted centimeters from the being's head, and the alien flinched. "If she's hurt…" TJ let the threat hang in the air, and he saw the commander gulp. 

Hurrying after Carlos, he saw the Black Ranger's head turn briefly in his direction. The other Ranger must have thought better of whatever he was going to say, however, for he was silent as TJ joined him in the corridor. Realigning his astroblaster, TJ's teammate took out the door mechanism with one shot, and the Bridge automatically sealed itself off from the hallway in which they stood. 

TJ was already moving down the hallway. Carlos caught up wordlessly, handheld scanner out and blinking Cassie's current location at them. "I downloaded their sensor parameters into the scanner," he explained when TJ gave him a surprised look. "I thought it would be handy to have a non-static location on her." 

TJ nodded. "Good thinking." *I'm glad *one* of us is,* he added silently, aware that he was not at his most rational right now. 

Carlos's sensor download had the added benefit of giving them a sketchy layout of the ship's interior, and they were able to reach their destination more quickly than TJ had expected. Nonetheless, by the time they reached the location of the original disturbance, the scene was quiet. 

TJ caught the sounds of a firefight further down the hall, even as Carlos tapped the scanner and pointed in the same direction. They crept toward the noise, senses alert and astroblasters ready.

The stealth proved unnecessary--the pirahnatrons weren't expecting trouble from behind, especially on their own ship. As TJ and Carlos rounded the last corner, they came upon the alien fish clustered around a doorway that was being well defended from the inside. The pirahnatrons didn't even look around, until the first blast from TJ's sidearm. 

Half of them swarmed forward to deal with this new threat, while the others maintained their siege on the occupants of the room. "TJ!" Carlos yelled. "I'll hold them off; you get Cassie and Phantom!" 

It occurred to TJ only then to wonder what had happened to Phantom. Divatox had spoken of only one Ranger while she was ranting at the ship's commander. And to damage a homing device badly enough that it would stop transmitting would require, from most energy weapons he was familiar with at least, a direct hit… 

Ducking past the pirahnatrons, he heard Carlos shout, "Lunar Lance!" 

TJ smiled grimly as he raised his blaster. The Black Ranger's weapon of choice would be the end of a good number of pirahnatrons today--*and the rest,* he thought, slowing his pace enough to aim, *are mine.* 

The pirahnatrons in the doorway separated as he opened fire, shuffling in either direction, some on both sides of the portal as they frantically tried to find cover. The crossfire worked phenomenally well to reduce their numbers--better than it should have, in fact--and, watching the pattern of assault from within the room, TJ concluded that there was more than one person shooting in there. 

That in itself boded well, and he was almost sure he could distinguish the high-pitched whine of Cassie's Satellite Stunner amid the fighting. Still, even knowing how dangerous it would be to try and get through the door right now, it was an effort for TJ to remain where he was until the last pirahnatrons turned and ran. 

Once they were gone, though, he ran through the doorway without a second thought--and found himself staring down the barrel of Cassie's stunner. "Whoa!" he exclaimed, throwing both arms out to the side. "It's just me, Cassie!" 

The stunner wavered, then clattered to the floor. She came out from behind the console she must have been using for cover and, without a word, threw her arms around him. TJ hugged back, silently offering thanks that she was all right. 

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you," Cassie said at last, stepping back. 

"I think I can guess," TJ replied, his gaze taking in her weary expression and disheveled uniform. Movement behind her caught his eye, and for the first time he noticed the person who must have been the second source of fire from within the room. 

A dark-haired boy leaned heavily on the console, blaster clutched tightly in one hand. His head was bowed, but his stance spoke eloquently of pain and fatigue. 

TJ nodded in his direction. "Who's your friend?" he asked quietly. 

Cassie followed his gaze, then shot TJ a startled look as she went to help her companion, stopping only to pick up her stunner. "You don't recognize him?" 

Now that TJ thought about it, the weapon he held did look somewhat familiar, but after a certain amount of time, every energy weapon started to look like every other. "Should I?" 

"Hey, guys," Carlos called, entering the room with his lance in one hand and scanner in the other. "Now would be the time--" 

TJ didn't even look around when Carlos cut off, transfixed by the sight in front of him. Cassie had taken the blaster from the boy's clenched fist and stuffed it into her belt next to her own weapon. Far from complaining, he seemed almost glad to be relieved of the sidearm, and TJ watched in amazement as Cassie touched his face gently, turning his head toward her. 

"Are you all right?" TJ heard her murmur. 

Her companion nodded slowly. "I am now," he said, voice hoarse as he let Cassie slip underneath his arm and help him away from the console. 

"Where's Phantom?" Carlos asked quietly from behind TJ's shoulder, but even as he heard the question, TJ knew the answer. The black-clad stranger in front of them *was* Phantom. He pointed without a word, and Carlos nodded in comprehension. 

"My morpher," Cassie said suddenly, looking away from Phantom to regard her teammates with a questioning expression. 

"Right here," Carlos said, his tone smug as he held it up for her to see. 

A relieved smile spread across her face. "Thanks, guys." 

"We're just glad you're all right," TJ assured her, flipping his own morpher open. "DECA, four to teleport." 

"Wait," Cassie interrupted. "DECA, can you send me and Phantom directly to the Medical bay?" 

"Acknowledged," DECA replied, and TJ's world turned sparkling sapphire. As soon as it reformed, however, he knew something was wrong--his vision came back fine, but gravity had gone haywire. 

TJ stumbled as the deck suddenly wasn't where it had been before, and he slammed into the weapons' console. "DECA, what's going on?" he heard Carlos shout. 

"The Megaship is under attack," DECA replied, and perversely, her answer comforted TJ. 

*At least that's something normal,* he thought. He knew the sight of Phantom demorphed and clinging to Cassie shouldn't bother him, but he couldn't deny that, on some level, it did. He was glad to have something else to think about. 

"We should have expected this," Carlos said, and TJ blinked. Realizing then that Carlos was referring to the attack, he nodded. 

"Power down," TJ declared, and Carlos followed suit. The ship shuddered, and this time they both staggered. 

"Divatox probably had the Megaship surrounded as soon as she realized there were Rangers on one of her ships." Carlos shook his head, obviously frustrated. "DECA, find Ashley and Andros and teleport them back here, now." 

Red and yellow light should have filled the Bridge within seconds, signaling their arrival. Nothing happened, and TJ wondered if it was impatience that made the time seem long. 

At Carlos's worried look, though, he knew it wasn't just him. "DECA?" 

"Neither Andros's nor Ashley's homing beacons are within detectable range," DECA replied at last, her tone no longer perfectly impassive. 

The ship shook again, and TJ grabbed at the console in front of him. "We don't have time for this," he muttered. Hitting the catch on his morpher, he went to signal Cassie--and exclaimed in annoyance when a beep sounded on the other side of the Bridge. Carlos still had her morpher, and with it, any possibility of contacting her directly. 

"DECA, tell Cassie we need her on the Bridge," TJ said. The lift doors opened on the end of his sentence, and Cassie raced out. 

"What's going on?" she asked breathlessly. 

"Divatox decided she doesn't want us hanging around anymore," TJ replied. He tried very hard not to add, "I told you so." 

This time, when the Megaship trembled beneath the weapons' fire of Divatox's army, Cassie was at her station in less time than it took to blink and firing back. Despite the severity of the situation, TJ had to smile at her determined expression. *She's not going to take that from anyone…* 

"They're gone," Carlos said suddenly. 

TJ looked at him, and the numb expression on his friend's face said it all. Nonetheless, he had to ask, "Andros and Ashley?" 

Carlos nodded. At the sudden silence, Cassie took her eyes away from the tactical display long enough to glance in their direction and demand an explanation. 

"Half the army's just--gone," Carlos said, staring at the viewscreen. 

"They must have taken off with Zordon as soon as Divatox realized she had spies on board," TJ said, thinking out loud. "The rest of them came after the Megaship--" 

"To make sure we wouldn't get away with whatever information she thinks we have," Cassie finished, squinting at her controls. Slapping the firing mechanism, she smiled evilly at the screen. "Gotcha," she muttered. 

Just then, the Megaship reeled from yet another hit. Clearly, what damage Cassie was doing to the enemy wasn't enough. "We need to get out of here," TJ said, taking Andros's place at the front of the Bridge. 

Carlos started to protest, but TJ cut him off. "I don't want to leave them either, but they're not *here*--we are, and we're getting pounded!" 

The Black Ranger didn't answer, but moments later, coordinates were coming from the navigation station, and TJ had a vector and course for the sanctuary moon. "DECA, hyperrush three," he ordered, and the stars streaked across the screen as she complied. 

They had been lucky--the remainder of Divatox's army hadn't completely surrounded them yet; it had been too scattered for more than a third of its force to reach the Megaship before the Rangers' ship went to hyperrush velocity. And hyperrush was possible thanks to the defensive fire that had kept damage to a minimum on the Megaship; he reminded himself to compliment Cassie on that later. 

As it was, they reached the moon in minutes. Slowing to thruster power only, TJ mentally crossed his fingers and let the ship coast into the fringes of the damping field that radiated from some invisible core. Static filled the forward screen, and it blinked out moments later. 

"Scanners are offline," Cassie reported a few seconds after the screen went white. 

"The navigation computer's down as well," Carlos said, folding his arms across his chest. 

"Nowhere to go, and blind as a bat," TJ muttered, liking this less and less. The only thing he distrusted more than failing instrumentation was Divatox, and that alone was what made him slow the ship even more, until they were at full stop relative to the asteroid. 

Everyone was silent for a moment, staring at the useless viewscreen as though it could tell them what they wanted to know. "DECA," TJ said at last, "reduce power levels to minimum. Might as well give them as little as possible to look for." 

"Reducing power," DECA responded, and the Bridge lights dimmed as the auxiliary panels went dark. "Full power is being maintained for Medical bay equipment and environmental controls only." 

TJ had the uncomfortable feeling that there was nothing left to do. He turned slowly away from the pilot's console, and faced Cassie and Carlos. Especially Carlos, who looked as though TJ had just betrayed everything he'd ever believed in. 

"Carlos…" TJ didn't know what to tell him. 

"I know," Carlos said, not waiting for him to finish. "I know; we did the right thing. But--it still *feels* wrong." 

TJ nodded, and Cassie sighed. "Right now we have to concentrate on how to get them back."

"The homing devices have a longer range then our morphers," TJ reminded them. "If DECA can't detect those, there's no way we can track them." 

"Unless we go after them," Carlos pointed out. "We could get a vapor trail on a fleet that size, no problem." 

"Not in the Megaship," TJ said. "We'll be visible the moment we leave this damping field."

"Well, what if one of us teleports over to the Delta Megaship?" Cassie suggested. "It could bypass this part of space completely and pick up the trail on the other side of the sector." 

"There's only one problem with that," Carlos said, glancing across the Bridge. "DECA? Does Andros have the Battlelizer?" 

DECA's camera flickered. "Andros was wearing the Battlelizer when he left the Megaship." 

"Which means we'd have to operate the Delta Megaship manually," Carlos finished. "I'm not even sure it can be done. And that's the only other ship we have." 

*Except--* TJ's head came up, even as he dismissed the idea. But he caught Cassie's eye nonetheless, and the look on her face said that she had had the same thought. "No," he said firmly. "It's too dangerous." 

"So is being trapped on an alien ship with no way to call for help," she retorted. "I know; remember?" 

Carlos was looking at them strangely. "What?" 

"None of us know the first thing about piloting his ship," TJ told her, hoping it was true. He had no idea what she and Phantom talked about, but he was betting it wasn't piloting lessons. 

"Some things are universal," she insisted. 

TJ shook his head. "Carlos, help me out here!" 

"I don't even know what you're talking about," Carlos protested. 

"Cassie wants to take Phantom's ship after half of Divatox's army!" Even as he said it, TJ had to admit there was some merit to the plan, combined with a whole lot of idiotic bravery. But there was also enough impracticality to it to reassure him that he wasn't just vetoing the idea because he didn't want to send another teammate off into the darkness of space alone. 

Carlos considered the idea for a moment. "You mean, track them down and send their coordinates back to DECA? But we already know our communicators won't work over that distance--" 

"So use Phantom's communications system," Cassie replied impatiently. "Our communication signals aren't hyperboosted; our morphers are too small to have that kind of capability. But his ship must, or he'd never be able to communicate with anyone farther than a few million kilometers away." 

"But none of us know how to *do* that on his ship!" TJ repeated. "Phantom didn't exactly leave his ship's schematics with DECA the last time we saw him…" Looking sideways at the computer's camera, he asked, "He didn't, did he, DECA?" 

"I do not have information on the Phantom Ranger's ship, beyond the data collected by the scanners," DECA replied. 

TJ shrugged. "It was worth a shot." 

"I bet I could figure it out," Cassie persisted. He shot her an incredulous stare, and she returned it with a pointed look, tapping her temple. 

He shook his head, glancing in Carlos's direction. Carlos hadn't missed the silent exchange, but, not having any reference for it, he just looked bewildered, and TJ was willing to bet Cassie wouldn't talk about it in front of him. "No," he repeated. "It's too dangerous." 

She sighed. "Fine. You two work it out--I'm going to check on Phantom." 

TJ stared after her in surprise. *Cassie--sulking?* he wondered as the lift doors closed on her.

"What was *that* about?" Carlos demanded. 

He hesitated a second, not wanting to keep something from his friend but knowing Cassie would kill him if he repeated what she had told him in confidence. Finally, he shook his head: *no-win situation.* "I don't know," TJ lied. 

Carlos looked at him, with an expression that said he knew very well TJ was holding something back. "Right." 

TJ shrugged uncomfortably, knowing that anything he said now would only aggravate the situation. "Is there any way to plot a probability curve on that fleet's destination?" he asked, more to change the subject than because he thought it would work. 

Carlos stared at him a moment longer, then turned to Ashley's console. "Maybe," he said, to TJ's surprise. "If we can work with the information the Megaship's sensors were picking up while we were--busy. Specifically, anything DECA noticed as Divatox's army broke up, and the vectors of the ships that were leaving…" 

He trailed off, working on something TJ couldn't see. Breathing a silent sigh of relief, TJ stared at the disturbing blankness on the forward viewscreen. Even if Carlos found something, they were still left with the same issues they had just been debating--but it made him feel better to have something to do, and it gave TJ a chance to… well, worry. 

He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else they could have done. What if Andros and Ashley were even now trying to get in touch with them? *Did we give up too soon?* he wondered, but could find no answer to the question. 

And Cassie… He couldn't forget the way she had stalked off the Bridge. *Does her idea have a chance? Could she really intuit the controls of Phantom's ship well enough to fly it? And should we have let her try anyway?* 

What it came down to, TJ knew, was that he hated waiting. He hated not being able to do anything to remedy a situation, and more than that, he hated the feeling that there *was* something he could do, if only he could figure out what it was. 

So he stared at a blank viewscreen and fidgeted--until an announcement from DECA brought him upright in the chair where he'd been slumped. "Hangar bay doors opening." 

*No.* He knew, instantly, what was happening, but his mind tried to deny it. *She wouldn't…* 

But she would, and it was one of the things that had made her accept the Power when it had been offered to her. Cassie's sense of duty, no matter how she tried to repress it or rebel against it, always won out in the end. She was one of the most loyal people he knew--and she wouldn't stand by and watch when she thought there was something she could do. 

"DECA." Carlos looked up from the scanner console. "Who's leaving?" The way he asked told TJ that he knew perfectly well, but couldn't keep himself from checking. 

"Cassie has left the Megaship aboard the Phantom Ranger's ship." 

The thought crossed TJ's mind distantly that Cassie *hadn't* been sulking, after all… *Should have known better,* he thought, unable to suppress a twinge of admiration for his teammate's daring. 

"DECA," he asked, "can we communicate with Phantom's ship?" 

"Close-range communication is nonfunctional, due to the damping field," DECA told him. 

"But we can hyperboost it, right?" Carlos prompted, turning to another console. "TJ." He gestured his friend over, and TJ waited impatiently for the screen to resolve into a coherent image. 

Cassie's face appeared seconds later, and TJ couldn't help sighing. "You could have told us, Cassie." 

"I did," she reminded him. "You thought it was too dangerous." 

"It *is* too dangerous," Carlos interrupted. "But… good luck." 

She smiled. "Thanks, Carlos. I'll let you know as soon as I find anything." 

She was about to break the comm link, and TJ couldn't leave it like that between them. "Cass--be careful." 

"I will be," she promised. "We're *going* to get them back, Teej." 

Seeing her there, perfectly comfortable in the midst of alien technology, convinced him more than anything else could have--but about what, he wasn't entirely sure. "I know." 

Cassie nodded at them both, and her image on the screen faded out, to be replaced only by blankness. 

***

When Andros's communicator produced nothing but static, Ashley tried hers. She flipped her morpher open and pushed the required buttons--with no better results than Andros. 

"What's going on?" she whispered, as the two of them huddled out of sight in a small control room off the main corridor. "Are our communicators being jammed?" 

Andros shook his head. "We wouldn't even get static, if they were. Somehow, the Megaship must be out of range." 

"What?" she exclaimed, then clapped a hand over her mouth. Or at least, she tried--her helmet reduced the effect somewhat. 

"I don't understand it, either." Doing something to the scanner, he told her, "I'm adjusting to detect stellar radiation--hopefully we can get a location fix from that." 

"You think *we're* the ones who are out of range, not the Megaship," Ashley realized.

He shrugged. "It makes more sense to think Divatox had a sudden change of plans than it does for the Megaship to just leave." 

She quieted, letting Andros do the recalibration while she stood guard at the door. The last scanner adjustment had revealed what neither of them had wanted to believe--the interdimensional distortion signal they were picking up was false. They weren't sure how it was being generated, but the signal itself was resonating through whatever metal this ship was made of, causing the "echoes" they had been seeing. A real distortion wouldn't do that, and they had reluctantly concluded that they had been chasing ghosts. 

Ashley crossed her fingers, hoping this time the scanner would tell them what they wanted to hear--although, when she thought about it, she wasn't sure what that was. *Would it be better to discover that this ship took off across the galaxy with us on board, or that the Megaship and probably the other Rangers had abandoned us?* 

Neither option was particularly appealing, and she looked over her shoulder, suddenly needing to know she wasn't alone. Andros paused what he was doing and looked up as she turned, giving her a quick thumbs-up. 

She smiled, even though he couldn't see it, and nodded. *How does he know?* she wondered, returning her gaze to the deserted hallway. *I've always been the one to cheer people up, but he seems to know when *I* need cheering…* 

Footsteps interrupted her train of thought, and she tensed at the familiar splashing sound. "Andros," she hissed, motioning for him to step further into the shadows. 

He complied without hesitation, and she stayed where she was, waiting for the source of the sound to show itself before she ducked out of line-of-sight from the doorway. The pirahnatrons came into view moments later, a supervisor goading them onward. Ashley withdrew to crouch just inside the doorframe, straining her ears to catch the supervisor's words. 

"You heard the boss," the alien was grumbling as the group rounded a corner and started down the hallway Ashley had been watching. "The whole ship--and no slacking just because you think you smell lunch. We can't afford to have any more Rangers snooping around." 

Ashley did her best not to gasp. *They found someone,* she thought, her mind racing. She dismissed TJ and Carlos as soon as she thought of them--they were too sharp to be caught off guard by anything but the worst luck. But Cassie and Phantom… 

Ordinarily, she had as much confidence in Cassie as she had in any of her teammates. But Cassie had gone into this mission with an injured partner, and Ashley couldn't shake the feeling that those two were the weak link. *We let ourselves believe Phantom could do it…We made him into such a legend as the Turbo Rangers; I don't think we even considered that he has the same weaknesses as anyone else.* 

The pirahnatrons passed by, peering into the room as they went but not stopping to search it. *After all,* she thought, watching them pace awkwardly away, *they have an entire ship to cover, and they're hungry…* She grinned to herself, more in relief than in humor, and backed away from the door. 

A hand on her shoulder startled her, and she turned to find Andros holding the scanner up for her to see. Two Power signals, one red and one yellow, almost on top of each other, were centered on the screen. But the surrounding spatial landmarks were strange, and it took her a moment to orient herself. 

Finally, she recognized the course of the comet they had seen the night before--almost off the screen now, and definitely headed in a different direction than she remembered it. The nebula that had been distantly discernible from the Megaship that morning was now prominent in the lower left-hand corner, and Ashley knew with sinking certainty that they were a long way from where they had been only half an hour ago. 

"The army must have taken off when Divatox realized there were Rangers on board," Ashley whispered, and she could almost see Andros's alarmed look. "Not us--I think they found one of the other teams. The supervisor that just went by with those pirahnatrons said something about not wanting to find any more Rangers snooping around." 

Andros's wordless exclamation was quiet, but nonetheless frustrated. "Cassie and Phantom."

Ashley nodded. "That was my thought, too." 

"I *knew* he was a liability," Andros fumed softly. "I shouldn't have let him go…" 

"Hey," Ashley interrupted. "You couldn't have known this would happen, any more than the rest of us. You heard Cassie at breakfast--she *chose* to go with him, and she probably knew better than anyone what condition he was in. It's not your fault." 

"Maybe," Andros sighed. Then, with the focus that had made him their leader, he shook it off. "Either way, though, I think you're right. Divatox's primary goal is to keep Zordon, and our presence on her ships threatens that. As soon as she realized she had spies on board, she would have taken off with Zordon and most of her army, leaving some of her ships behind to deal with the intruders." 

"TJ and Carlos," Ashley said suddenly. "What if they're on one of the ships that went with Divatox too?" 

When he didn't answer, she touched her communicator. Andros made a motion toward her wrist, and an eerie feeling of déjà vu settled over her. "It's worth the risk," she insisted. "There's no other way to know." 

He nodded reluctantly, and she hoped she was right. "Carlos?" she said into her communicator. "TJ? Can you guys hear me?" 

She was simultaneously relieved and disappointed when only static answered her. On the one hand, she hadn't blown anyone else's cover. But on the other, that static meant she and Andros were alone out here… 

On impulse, she touched her communicator again. They'd assumed Cassie and Phantom were the ones who had gotten into trouble, but there was a chance they were wrong. "Cassie?" she asked. 

Static was the only reply. 

More clattering in the hallway alerted them, and this time, Andros drew her with him into the shadows. "You're *not* standing in the doorway again," he whispered as they hid behind a bank of consoles. "I've never been so scared in my life." 

Surprised, she couldn't resist the opportunity to tease him. "Coming from a Power Ranger, that's a little extreme." 

His head turned toward hers, and she was sure she had just gotten the Look. "You know what I mean." 

This time, the fish squad went so far as to shine light into the room as they passed, and one or two actually slowed enough to pause by the door before moving on. "That was too close," Andros muttered, when the sound of retreating finfeet had died away. 

Ashley nodded emphatically. "We need to get out of here." 

"We need to get off this ship," Andros corrected. 

Ashley raised her eyebrows. "And how do you suggest we do that?" 

He held up the scanner once more. The display had changed yet again--now it showed a rough layout of a ship, presumably the one they were on, with two sections highlighted. Looking closer, she could make out the dual red and yellow blip that indicated their location, but the other dot remained a mystery. 

"Escape pod," Andros explained. 

"How do you *do* that?" she demanded. "That scanner isn't a video game; there are limits to what it can do!" 

Ashley could hear the grin in his voice when he answered, "Magic." 

"Great," she replied wryly. "One of your scientific explanations." 

"I'll show you," he said, stepping out from behind the console bank. "Later. Let's get out of here first, okay?" 

Ashley crossed her arms. "You still haven't explained why we're going to be safer on an escape pod than we are here." 

"Because it's only a matter of time before someone thinks to scan all the ships for "alien" bioreadings. On a ship full of pirahnatrons and other non-humans, the two of us won't exactly blend in." 

"Right," Ashley said, straightening. "I'm convinced; let's go." 

Andros's map worked better than she'd expected, and they made it to their destination with a minimum of detours. The little backtracking they did was thanks to two more harrowing pirahnatron encounters--which served to further convince Ashley of the need to get off the ship.

"After you," Andros said, hitting the control panel next to the hatch. The door rolled open, and Ashley climbed through. It wasn't a true airlock, since the time required for air pressure to equalize was often more than crewpeople fleeing a shipwide catastrophe could afford to wait, but it was cramped enough that it might as well have been. 

The pod itself wasn't much better, but at least there was room to maneuver. She heard the door clang shut behind Andros, and he dropped into the pod a moment later. "Ready?" he asked, sounding somewhat breathless. 

Ashley nodded, but she was starting to have serious misgivings about spending an indefinite amount of time in this tiny space. *I'm not claustrophobic,* she reminded herself. *I'm not claustrophobic…* 

Andros did something to the instrumentation at what could be considered the front of their escape pod, and the vessel shuddered violently. Ashley felt the pod's wall slam against her side, and heard Andros apologize over the accelerating hum of their single engine. 

"S'okay," she managed to reply. Pushing herself upright once more, she added, "Inertial damping on this thing could use a tune-up, though." 

"If the dampers are the only thing out of sync on this ship, we'll be lucky," Andros replied, playing with the controls some more. 

"What are you doing?" Ashley wanted to know, crawling forward to look over his shoulder. "And if you hold up that scanner one more time…" 

"Actually…" Andros pointed at the scanner, which was even now dumping information into the pod's navigation computers. 

"You've got to be kidding me." 

Andros shook his head. "Remember that sweep we did of stellar radiation? There was an interference pattern nearby that's characteristic of stars with planetary satellites, and if we can land this pod somewhere, we'll have our ticket home." 

At first, Ashley didn't understand. Then she saw him raise his right wrist, and, in a sparkle of red, the familiar outline of the Battlelizer appeared. "The Delta Megaship!" 

"Exactly," Andros agreed, satisfaction evident in his tone. "The only problem is that, without DECA to regulate our teleportation signals, we can't teleport directly onboard. We'll have to set down somewhere and physically transfer from ship to ship." 

"Can't the computer on the Delta Megaship do it?" she wanted to know. 

He shrugged, and she thought he looked a little uncomfortable. "It was never fully activated. Between DECA and the Delta Megaship's remote control, we didn't need a second operating system." 

"That's something we'll have to change," Ashley muttered. "But for now, we have no way to get aboard, except…" Suddenly realizing that this had been his intent from the beginning, she shook her head. "You had a plan all along!" 

"We still don't know if it's going to work, though," he cautioned. "There's no way to know if any of the planets will have an atmosphere we can survive in--and even if they do, we still have to reach them." 

She wasn't sure whether to be indignant with him for keeping her in the dark or exasperated with herself for not figuring it out. "Next time, *tell* me," she said, unfastening her helmet and shaking her hair out. 

He looked over at her and paused. "I would have, really. I just wasn't sure we had time." 

"I know," she said, smiling to reassure him. "And you were right; I just like to keep up, you know?" 

He nodded, and, after a moment, went back to the navigation controls. She watched, but it didn't take long for his commands to the escape pod's computer to surpass her rudimentary knowledge of starship piloting. So she stopped trying to follow along and just gazed at him while he worked, wondering what his expression looked like behind his visor. 

"That should do it," he announced at last, taking his hands off the console and reaching up to remove his own helmet. 

Still loose, his hair spilled over his shoulders, and Ashley smiled again inadvertently. His red hair elastic was on her wrist--she'd forgotten to give it back before they morphed. 

"Our course is random enough that it shouldn't set off any warnings on their tracking systems," Andros continued, oblivious to her musing. "And they didn't notice us leave--the escape pod bays must not be programmed to notify the computer when a pod launches, so they won't be looking for us." 

"That's the good news," Ashley agreed. She could read his expression well enough to know that wasn't everything, though. "So what's the bad?" 

He glanced over at her. "Well… we have minimal hyperrush capability with this escape pod. It's going to take more than a day to reach this solar system. And--" 

"And?" Ashley prompted, not sure she wanted to know. 

"The inertial dampers *aren't* the only thing not at peak efficiency on this ship," he told her, glancing down at the console in front of him. "Environmental controls aren't as good as they could be, either. The air recyclers should hold out until we get where we're going, but I'm not sure about the temperature regulators." 

Looking up again, he met her worried gaze. "I think we'd better stay morphed. It may get a little cold in here." 

Despite the seriousness of his statement, Ashley couldn't keep a smile from spreading across her face. "I'm not worried," she said, wondering if she could make him blush. "You're here--we'll find a way to stay warm." 

It worked. Andros blushed, and her smile widened. "Sorry," she said, not feeling at all apologetic. *He's so cute when he's embarrassed…* "I couldn't resist." 

"You're doing it on purpose," he accused. "You're *trying* to make me uncomfortable!"

She squirmed. "When you put it like that, it doesn't sound very nice, does it?" Ashley admitted.

"It isn't!" he exclaimed, but he didn't sound particularly upset. "I've never been in a--" Andros hesitated over the word. "--relationship before, and I don't have the faintest clue what I'm doing. The least you could do is help me out a little…"

She doubted he realized how that sounded, but his tone was too plaintive for her to resist. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, planting a quick kiss on his lips before drawing him closer into her embrace. "You're doing fine," she assured him quietly. 

Feeling his arms go around her, it struck Ashley just then how interesting her life had become since the day Tanya Sloan had handed her a Turbo key all those months ago. She had been prepared for change when she started at Angel Grove High, but no one had told her that saving the world would become a regular extracurricular activity. 

Now, here she was, about to enter her senior year in high school, and she was halfway across the galaxy, with new Power and a boyfriend from another planet. She let out her breath in a half-chuckle, and she felt Andros shift. 

"What is it?" he asked quietly, making no move to let her go. 

"I was just thinking…" She wasn't sure how to explain it. "The last few years have turned out much--differently than I expected." 

Now he did move, drawing back far enough that he could search her expression. "Do you--are you sorry?" he asked, his tone worried. 

She didn't even have to think about it. "Not at *all,*" Ashley told him. Aboard a chilly, isolated escape pod, light years from home, she stared into his concerned brown eyes and smiled. "I wouldn't have wanted it any other way."

_fin_


	10. Reflections

_Disclaimer: I suppose it won't surprise you to hear that these characters are not exactly originals--I've stolen them from Saban Entertainment ;)_

**

Reflections  
by Starhawk

**

Early afternoon found Carlos back on the Bridge of the Megaship, trying to find a way around the damping field of the Sanctuary moon. He had managed to calculate a probable course for the half of Divatox's army that had taken off with Zordon, but he couldn't come up with any likely destinations along their predicted path. Without scanners, there was nothing more he could do. 

*If only we could hyperboost the scanners the way we do the communications,* Carlos mused, staring at the console in front of them. Hyperboosted communication signals were currently the only form of data that the Megaship could transmit or receive--with the exception of teleportation beams, since those were not electronic in origin--because they were sent directly to their destination through hyperspace, bypassing the damping field altogether. 

*Maybe there's a way to do it…* he thought, knowing full well that he was only trying to keep himself busy. 

He glanced involuntarily toward the auxiliary bank of scanner controls, where TJ sat staring at the monitor. The Blue Ranger had wandered onto the Bridge about a half an hour ago, and Carlos had said nothing when he restored power to the backup station and tuned into an IN network. 

TJ could, of course, have accessed the network from his room. But the minimal amount of power required to run the monitor and receive the boosted comm transmission would make little difference in the long run, and it probably made him feel better to be on the Bridge. 

Carlos, too, had tried to work in his room. But what it came down to was that he felt too isolated there. He and TJ were the only Astro Rangers still on board, and it was easier to ignore the pervasive quiet when he was surrounded by the hum of the Megaship's control center. 

Glancing down at the time display on the scanner console, Carlos decided to give up on the scanners for the moment. "I'll be back in a minute," he told TJ, and his friend looked away from the monitor to wave. 

The two of them had, by mutual agreement, been taking turns checking on Phantom every hour or so. DECA was monitoring him as well, and would alert them if something was wrong, but they both knew Cassie would appreciate the extra effort. 

*It seems only fair,* Carlos thought, stepping into the lift. *She gave up her ability to watch over him to go after our friends; the least we can do is look in on him from time to time.* 

He still wasn't sure how he felt about the two of them. When Phantom first appeared, Carlos had figured Cassie's reaction to their mysterious ally was nothing more than a crush. It was, after all, easy to idealize someone about whom you knew almost nothing. 

It had puzzled him, however, that Phantom appeared to return her feelings, and he had wondered if he was imagining things. It seemed an unlikely coincidence that they could have developed a mutual infatuation with each other, based on their extremely limited encounters, and the idea that they had fallen in love seemed even more preposterous. 

Lately, though, it was becoming obvious that Phantom did indeed favor Cassie. And Cassie had certainly waited for him--it had been a long time, and she wouldn't have lacked for male companionship if she had sought it. 

The lift doors opened, and Carlos made his way down the hall toward the Medical bay. The boy Cassie had teleported here earlier in the day lay exactly as she must have left him--on his back, eyes closed and still, in a sleep too deep for dreams. 

The Phantom Ranger. Carlos had a hard time associating the enigmatic warrior they had known so briefly on Earth with the stranger he saw every time he entered the Medical bay. Phantom had *been* his uniform, when it came right down to it--none of them had known him any other way. 

*I didn't trust him,* Carlos realized suddenly. It was a strange revelation, and startling in its abruptness. Only know, seeing Phantom's unmorphed form, did he understand that the armored Ranger had been the epitome of what Carlos *didn't* want to become: just a uniform, fighting for good as automatically as the Blue Senturion. 

*He never seemed real to me, I guess. Almost--more of a machine than a person.* And machines were not inherently good or evil; they were merely programmed. He supposed back then he had never been sure the Power Rangers were anything more than a series of numbers to Phantom. 

The person on the patient bed now, though, was real in a way the Phantom Ranger hadn't been. Dressed in the color Carlos himself preferred, this boy was someone he could relate to: someone he could see smiling once in a while, rather than just appearing to rescue the team from impending doom every other week. 

*Maybe there's a chance for him and Cassie after all,* the Black Ranger mused, leaving the Medical bay once more. *If they ever have a conversation that isn't cut off by some life threatening situation…* 

Of course, they hardly needed his approval. The two seemed perfectly content with each other *without* any of the conventional things that made a relationship work. He crossed his fingers for them, hoping against all logic that they would continue to be happy. 

The stars beckoned from a window as he passed, and he paused a moment to gaze out. *And you, Ashley?* he wondered into the vacuum. *Will you be happy with the one you've chosen? Will he give you the devotion you deserve?* 

Staring out at the unforgiving points of light, he prayed his friends lived long enough to find those answers for themselves. 

***

Andros sat back from the control console in the diminutive escape pod. *That should do it,* he thought, rather pleased with himself. 

It had occurred to him not long after the pod was jettisoned that, if the Megaship came looking for them, anyone on their trail would follow the fleet. The escape pod's tiny and erratic vapor trail would go unnoticed in the midst of the larger and far more numerous ships. 

So he'd rigged a beacon, set to the Astro Rangers' morpher frequency. It would remain silent, indistinguishable from free-floating space debris, until and unless a morpher passed within two million kilometers of the beacon. The proximity indicator would trigger an automatic signal that ought to show up as a static burst on their communicators, alerting whomever was searching for them that there was someone out here. 

*At least, that's the idea…* 

He shrugged off the flicker of doubt. No solution was foolproof, and this was the best one he could implement with limited resources. There was no way to know, really, whether the other Rangers were even in a position to rescue them. 

*So we'll continue with the original plan… and hope the rest of the team is all right.* There was, in all honesty, little else they *could* do. With a barely concealed sigh, Andros looked over at his fellow escapee.

Ashley was curled against the back of the escape pod, eyes closed and body relaxed in sleep. He had seen her doze off a little while ago and had done nothing to prevent it. It was better for her to nap now, before the temperature got low enough that sleeping would be dangerous.

Besides, he admitted to himself, it was nice to be able to watch her without her knowing for once. When she was awake, she seemed to have some sixth sense that told her when he was looking at her--and he would invariably become flustered when she returned his gaze. 

*What is it about her that makes me so confused?* he wondered, shifting so that his back was to the console. *How is she so different from anyone I've ever known?* 

Ashley had been unique since the day he met her. She had been the first in years to try to break through his shell, and she wouldn't take no for an answer. 

Watching her stir a little in her sleep, he remembered the argument they'd had just last week. It had begun as one of their typical battles over Terran versus Kerovan superiority--good-natured squabbling that had been occurring more and more frequently, despite the fact that he couldn't recall how he had let her drag him into it the first time--but had quickly turned into a more serious fight over what she termed his "antisociality"… 

The whole thing had started when he refused to go rollerblading with the others. *"You won't try anything new,"* she had accused. *"Just because you never did it on KO-35 doesn't mean it's bad."* 

*"Just because it originated on Earth doesn't make it good, either,"* he had retorted. *"I have more important things to do."* 

*"We all do! But we take time to be with each other, to just hang out and have fun."* She had given him a look he couldn't interpret. *"If you don't want to do things with us, you could just tell us instead of making up excuses, you know."* 

He remembered being rather taken aback. Normally, their mock-battles over which planet was "better" would continue until he started to get irritated. She always noticed, and would back off immediately, laughing at their sport and often conceding that KO-35 was at least equal to her home planet. 

This time, though… he hadn't known how to respond to her sudden change in demeanor. *"I just don't have time,"* he had said at last, and when her eyes flashed he knew he'd said something wrong. 

*"We're not so bad, if you'd just give us a chance,"* she'd told him. *"Is having friends one of those things that wasn't done on KO-35, or is it us in particular that you don't like?"* 

He had frowned at her sudden animosity. Ashley had never spoken to him like that, and he had no idea what he'd done to deserve it. Frankly, their "friendliness" overwhelmed him when it was imposed on him every hour of the day, and he found he needed some time away from it after a while. But to admit that would be admitting weakness, and he couldn't do that in front of her.

*"I survived on my own for years before you came along,"* he had answered, rather more harshly than he'd intended. *"I can do just fine without your help *or* your company."*

Andros winced at the memory. Hurt had flashed across her face before she could hide it, and he had paused--too late. The damage had been done, and she had left the Bridge soon after.

Now, he knew the entire fight could have been avoided if he had simply told her the truth, as he had two days ago. Sometimes the others were just too much to handle, and he needed to be alone from time to time--she had understood, and he wished that he had told her then, before the rollerblading incident got out of hand. 

*Did I ever apologize for the things I said?* He couldn't remember doing so--Ashley had been unusually quiet at dinner that night, but the next morning she had acted as though nothing had happened. Things had gone back to normal between them, with her prodding him into activities and him agreeing a little less reluctantly each time, until the day of the backrubs. 

*That* was a memory he could smile at. "Thank you," Andros whispered, leaning over to touch her face. "Thank you for… everything." 

She stirred again, and he drew back quickly. "Ash?" he asked quietly, but she didn't answer.

He tried to resist the temptation to touch her again, but his hand moved irresistibly back toward her face. He found himself running his fingers through her hair, heart racing as he prayed she would not wake up. 

Another flashback took hold of his mind, and the scene on the Simudeck this morning replayed in front of his eyes. She had looked so beautiful, dancing in the early sunlight of the simulated park. And when she turned, eyes shining and arms lifted triumphantly over her head as though she had been performing solely for him, he had almost stopped breathing. 

He had wanted to run to her, take her in his arms and tell her how amazing she was--but he restrained himself, for the same reason that he now sat beside her hoping she would not wake. He simply didn't know how much she would accept from him… and in all honesty, he wasn't sure how much he could give. 

*I've been alone for so long--what do I know about relationships?* Ashley's presence was intoxicating, and the more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to *always* be with her. But something inside him wouldn't let go that easily. 

*Something* in him refused to yield, refused to be swept away by the feelings that tried to overpower him whenever Ashley smiled. Something had screamed at him to stop when they were sparring; something had made him tense when she pinned him to the ground. And though he had very much wanted to kiss her then, and had liked the feeling of her fingers in his hair, something had made him pull away. 

Ashley murmured something incomprehensible, and he froze. Her eyes were still closed, but her expression was far less peaceful than it had been minutes before. His train of thought abandoned, he focused all his attention on her and was not surprised when she cried out a moment later. 

"Ashley," he whispered, letting his hand fall to her shoulder and giving her a gentle shake.

She twitched away, moaning, and he couldn't suppress his alarm. "Ash," he said, louder. "Wake up." 

He took hold of her other shoulder, then just as quickly let go and touched her cheek. "Ashley, don't do this to me. Come on, wake up. It's just a dream." 

Her eyes snapped open at last, and the fear he saw there cut straight to his heart. He started to pull away, but she stopped him with a single word. "Andros…" 

The fear had dissipated from her eyes as soon as she caught sight of him, but her expression was still troubled and there was no ignoring the distress in her voice. He pulled her close, wanting only to banish whatever terrors had plagued her dreams. 

She clung to him, and suddenly he heard her whisper, "Andros? Do you think they're all right?"

"Yeah," he whispered back, suddenly aware of just how much trust she was putting in him. This was a side of her the others never saw--yet she revealed her doubts to him without a second thought, counting on him to comfort her and keep her secrets. "Yeah, I do," he repeated, forcing the words out. "They're Rangers, Ash--they'll be okay." 

Even he could hear how choked his voice sounded, but he couldn't explain the turmoil inside him. To his intense relief, she didn't ask, though her next words made it obvious she had noticed. He felt her hand stroke his hair as she murmured, "We're going to be okay too, Andros. Everything's going to be all right." 

He tried to answer, but found he couldn't. Closing his eyes, he let her reassure him, when it was supposed to be the other way around. *Is she right? *Will* we be okay--can I find a way to make this work?* 

"Hey," Ashley said gently, pulling back to look at him with a concerned expression. "What are you thinking?" 

He tried to smile. "How do you know?" 

"Know what?" she asked, combing his hair away from his face with her fingers. 

"When I'm…" He couldn't finish. 

"When you're upset?" she suggested, and he nodded once. She smiled. "You tense your shoulders, and your eyes get really dark looking." 

"You couldn't see my eyes," he pointed out. 

She shrugged. "But you still tensed your shoulders." She demonstrated, hunching forward and frowning a little. Some of the effect was lost, since her arms were still twined around his neck, but he had to admit he recognized the posture. 

Ashley giggled at his expression. "I didn't mean to embarrass you. But it's true--so what's wrong?" 

He sighed, glancing away. He didn't know what to tell her--after all, he wasn't even sure himself. 

"Is it something I did?" she asked quietly. 

Andros looked up instantly. "No!" That was the last thing he wanted her to think, but he still couldn't figure out how to tell her what he was feeling. "It's not you at all…" 

"Then what?" she pressed, and he shrugged uncomfortably. 

Tempted to just shake his head and tell her it was nothing, he stopped himself with an effort. She let him know her fears, and it was a gesture of trust he longed to return, if only he could find the words. 

"I guess… I guess I don't know what you want," he said at last. She opened her mouth, but he shook his head at her, afraid she had taken it wrong. "Wait. Let me explain--or try, at least."

She nodded with a smile on her face, and he figured that was a good sign. "It's just that I don't know what you're used to, in a relationship. And…" He paused, trying to decide how to say this without making it sound like a reflection on her. 

Andros sighed, and started with the sentence closest to his heart. "I like you, Ash. I like you more than I can remember liking anyone for a long time, but--I guess I'm just not used to it. I don't know how to act around you; I don't know… what you want," he finished, frustrated with his inability to explain. 

She waited a moment, then asked timidly, "Can I say something?" 

"Please," Andros said emphatically. "I'm certainly not doing a very good job." 

She tilted her head to one side and smiled up at him. "I think you're doing fine. Let me clear something up--what I want? You. That's it; just you, however you are or want to be. You don't have to 'act' any way--just be you." 

"But--" He didn't get past the first word before she stopped him. 

Placing two fingers over his mouth, she told him, "But nothing. *You* are the person I like, not some image I have of you. If something I do makes you uncomfortable, *tell* me--I'm not trying to make you live up to an ideal; I just don't know any better if you don't tell me how you feel." 

Andros let himself relax a little, realizing as he did so that his shoulders *were* tense, after all. "Thanks…" He couldn't begin to describe the relief he felt at her words. "I don't know what else to say, Ash." 

She bit her lip, looking at him from under her eyelashes. "Would it be okay--would it make you uncomfortable if I kissed you now?" 

He couldn't keep a smile from spreading across his face. "There's nothing I'd like more," Andros confessed. He felt his heart start pounding as she leaned closer, and he had time to wonder whether she would simply touch her lips to his as she had several times before, or if it would be a kiss like the one they'd shared on the Simudeck… 

Ashley kissed him gently, then waited, her face centimeters from his. He understood that it was up to him how far it went, and he hesitated. Then, slowly, he closed the gap between them and pressed his mouth to hers. 

She returned the kiss with more confidence than he had felt initiating it, and though it lacked the passion of their earlier encounter, it was just as sweet. As he kissed her again, he found he was enjoying himself more for knowing she didn't expect anything he couldn't yet give.

Finally, she turned her head and laid it against his shoulder. "I'm so lucky to know you," Ashley whispered. 

He smiled, breathing in the clean scent of her hair. "Funny," Andros replied softly. "I was just thinking the same thing about you." 

***

Phantom awoke suddenly, feeling closer to rested than he had in weeks. Without moving, he did a quick survey of his surroundings and recognized the Medical bay on the Megaship. *Safe,* his mind reminded him, but he had been operating on instinct for too long to let rational thought dictate his actions completely. 

Reaching automatically for his blaster, he sat up--or tried to. The instant he moved, pain shot through his chest and he bit his lip to keep from crying out. 

He must have made some noise, however, because DECA's camera light flicked on. "Good evening, Saryn." 

That brought him upright no matter the pain, and he again reached for the comforting weight of his blaster. It wasn't on his hip where it should have been, and he looked down in shock as he realized he was not morphed. 

His right hand flew to the ruby around his neck, and he felt the Power flood through him. Within seconds, he was looking at the Medical bay through the sensory datafeed of his visor. 

"How did you know?" he demanded of the ship's computer. 

"Visual correlation with intergalactic files was achieved four point six seconds after you were brought on board," DECA replied calmly. 

He swore silently. There were few enough who knew of his identity, and each had promised to guard his secret. Having a computer that interacted with dozens of other systems every week "achieve visual correlation with intergalactic files" was *not* part of the plan. 

"DECA," he said through clenched teeth, "I would prefer that this information not become public." 

"Saryn of Elisia has been absent from the public eye for years now," DECA remarked, ignoring the intent of his statement. 

"Stop saying that name," Phantom warned, his voice dangerously low. 

"Many have thought you dead," the computer continued, unfazed. 

He turned his head away abruptly. "I *should* have been," he muttered, shutting his eyes against the memory of those last few days as Saryn. It didn't help--the images were that much clearer on the dark background of the inside of his eyelids, and he snapped them open again, shaking his head. *I can not believe I let a computer get to me,* he thought bitterly. 

"DECA." He stood up, fists clenched at his sides, trying very hard to keep his tone even. "I am the Phantom Ranger. That is both my title and my name. Do you understand?" 

DECA blinked at him. In the pause, he wished suddenly for Andros--the Red Ranger could convince DECA of anything. 

"No information on the location, identity, or status of Saryn of Elisia will leave this ship," the computer said at last. "Is that sufficient?" 

Phantom almost agreed--until the loophole she had left in that statement caught up with him. "I do not wish the other Rangers to know either, DECA." 

The fact that she didn't answer right away confirmed his suspicions. When she did, however, her reply caught him off guard. "Including Cassie Chan?" 

He caught his breath in surprise, then glared at the camera. *I hate artificial intelligence…*

When he didn't respond, the camera turned a little, readjusting its angle. "You have not answered the question," she reminded him. "Do you wish Cassie Chan to know your identity?" 

Phantom looked away. "She already knows," he muttered, remembering those few minutes on an alien ship when all he had cared about was the feel of her in his arms. He swallowed, knowing that mistake could cost him. "Who she tells--is her business." 

DECA's camera blinked twice. "Understood," the computer's voice replied, sounding a little quieter than before. The red light lingered a moment longer, then darkened, and he was alone again. 

He forced himself to relax, sitting down on the edge of the patient bed and closing his eyes. Taking a few deep breaths, he could feel his injuries complain a little, but it was inconsequential compared to the way they had felt when he first awoke. The Power had infused him with something like his old strength, and it had diminished the pain in his chest to almost nothing. 

Enjoying the absence of discomfort, he reflected that it was nice not to feel so insanely tired anymore… 

"From what I hear, you'll heal faster if half your energy isn't going to keeping you morphed." 

Phantom's eyes opened and his head jerked up--he hadn't even realized he had been nodding off until a familiar voice cut into his doze. 

The Blue Ranger was lounging in the doorway, watching him with a knowing expression. "And after everything that's happened, you *definitely* shouldn't be sleeping that way." 

He started to deny it, but the fact that he hadn't heard TJ's entrance was proof enough. "I do not have time to sleep," he said instead, wondering how long he had been unaware--and how long the other Ranger had been there. 

TJ snorted. "Oh yes you do. Time is the one thing we have plenty of right now--I wish *I* could sleep some of it away." 

"What has happened?" Phantom asked, troubled by the sudden realization that he wasn't even completely sure what day it was. 

TJ didn't answer right away. "DECA?" he inquired, glancing toward the camera mounted on the wall of the Medical bay. It blinked on, and he asked, "How's Phantom doing?" 

"I am fine," Phantom said, but DECA spoke over him. 

"The Phantom Ranger is still recovering," she said, and he could have sworn he heard a smug note in her voice. "The injuries he sustained on Divatox's ship have not healed, and he requires more sleep before his life force will be at optimum levels." 

Knowing neither she nor TJ could see his expression, Phantom grimaced at the camera. To his surprise, the light blinked at him when TJ looked away, and Phantom's eyes widened. *That computer is laughing at me,* he thought, not sure whether to be startled or annoyed. 

"You'd better get some rest," TJ told him. "Cassie will kill me if she comes back to find out I made your condition worse."

Phantom had been trying to ignore the Pink Ranger's absence, though it was made more conspicuous by the fact that she had been at his side almost every time he woke up the day before. Now, though, something in the way TJ spoke made him think that Cassie had not just slipped away to get something to eat. He was almost afraid to ask--but he had to know. "Where *is* Cassie?" 

TJ hesitated, and the worry that flashed across his face confirmed Phantom's fear. He closed his eyes, remembering her admission that there were things she *knew* about him that she couldn't explain. He tried to sense any emotion that he could identify as *not* his… 

But there was only emptiness. "Where is she?" he repeated, opening his eyes and staring up at the concerned expression on her teammate's face. 

"She's fine," TJ said at last, pulling himself together. "Don't worry; we're in touch with her, and she *is* all right. She'll be back soon… You should really sleep." 

Phantom pushed himself to his feet. "TJ." He found it a struggle to keep his voice even, and suspected the other Ranger noticed. "I do not wish to argue with you. But if you do not tell me where Cassie is and what she is doing, I will go to the Bridge and find out for myself." 

TJ stared at him for a moment, but Phantom had no intention of backing down. After a moment, TJ sighed and nodded. "All right. I'd insist on knowing too--I was only trying to keep you from worrying." 

"You are not succeeding," Phantom said, trying not to snap at him. 

TJ's eyes narrowed. "Look, we're *all* concerned. I know you and Cassie have something special, but she's *our* teammate, and we're just as worried as you are." 

"Except that you know where she is," Phantom pointed out, barely keeping his impatience in check. 

TJ gave him an unreadable look, followed by a curt nod. "She left to find Andros and Ashley--"

Realizing that meant nothing to him, TJ stopped. Backing up, he explained, "The army went on alert as soon as the two of you were discovered, and half of them surrounded the Megaship while the other half took off with Zordon. Carlos and I came after you, but we couldn't alert the others in time, and the fleet was gone before we realized they were with it. 

"We're hiding in the damping field of the Sanctuary moon now--but Cassie insisted on going after them on her own. The last we heard from her, she had made it out of the sector and was still tracking the fleet's vapor trail." 

Phantom was sitting on the patient bed again, with no memory of when his legs had ceased to hold him. "You let her go *alone*?" 

"She didn't exactly give us a choice," TJ said wryly. "She just left--with me and Carlos still arguing over what to do." 

Phantom tried to smile. That did sound like Cassie. The thought of her alone among an entire army still terrified him, though, and he must have said so aloud, because TJ gave him an odd look. 

"You're not really one to talk," the Blue Ranger commented. There was no mistaking the animosity in his voice this time. 

Phantom winced. "What do you mean?" he asked, suspecting he knew but surprised that any of the Rangers would mention it in front of him. 

"You know what I mean," TJ told him evenly. "You haven't exactly made your presence felt lately. Or ever, for that matter." 

"I have duties, even as you do," Phantom reminded him. "We are all of us Rangers." 

"Some more than others," TJ muttered, and Phantom tried not to jump to conclusions. The Rangers had never treated him with anything less than perfect courtesy, and he couldn't believe one of them would insult him now. 

"Please elaborate," he said, his voice calm even as his mind raced. 

"Some of us are Rangers," TJ said, more loudly. "But there are certain rules that we follow, and one of those involves loyalty to our teammates. Who are you loyal to, Phantom?" 

Phantom's eyes widened. The challenge in TJ's tone was obvious. "I am a Ranger," he stated. "I fight for good, just as you do." 

"That's not what I asked. Who do you fight *with*?" 

Phantom stared at him, unable to believe the teenager's audacity. *He doesn't know,* he tried to remind himself, but he could feel the anger welling up inside him. "I did not choose this course," he said, trying to keep his feelings from showing. "I did not choose to be alone in the universe. But it happened, and I have learned to accept it." 

"But you *did* choose it," TJ insisted. "Our team would have accepted you--Dimitria would have let you stay, and we would have welcomed you as one of us. Instead, you gave us some nonsense about going where you were needed and leaving when the need had passed." 

"That was not nonsense," Phantom ground out. "It was, and still is, true." 

"How can it be?" TJ shot back. "Both megazords fell later that same year, Phantom! The Power Chamber was destroyed, and the Turbo powers were *lost*. Where were you?" 

Phantom took a deep breath, determined not to lose his temper. "I was on Eltare, fighting for the planet's freedom." 

"And Cassie was on Earth, fighting for her *life*!" Phantom looked away, but TJ continued relentlessly. "You've been needed more times than I can count--but we've heard nothing from you, not even a message to let us know you were still alive." 

"You survived," Phantom pointed out quietly. "I was *not* needed. You and your friends managed on your own." 

TJ shook his head. "You don't understand. I'm not just talking about your fighting ability--although there's no question it would have helped. I'm talking about *you*, and what you mean to Cassie." 

Phantom turned back to regard him, wondering whether to stop the other Ranger right there. "That is not your affair." 

"But it is." TJ stared back, and suddenly he seemed taller. "Cassie is my best friend, and her happiness is very much my affair. You have no idea what she was like when you were with us on Earth--she walked around with this glow, and a smile on her face that wouldn't go away." 

Phantom could see what was coming, and he was sure he didn't want to hear it. But what better punishment--it was his fault, after all. 

"Then you left. She seemed fine for a while--then I saw her report card. Her grades improved when she moved to Angel Grove, but in the months after you left they started falling again. Add to that she didn't go out on a single date that entire fall, and when I talked to Ashley, she said Cassie would go out in the yard at night and just stare up the sky--one night she didn't come in at all, and when Ashley went looking for her, she found her asleep in the grass." 

"Stop," Phantom whispered at last. "Please, stop." 

"Why?" TJ demanded. "You weren't there; you didn't have to watch. Do you know how hard it was to see her and know there was absolutely nothing I could do? Every time I asked, she'd just smile and say she was fine, but I could tell." 

He fell silent for a moment, but Phantom had nothing to say. All he could do was get to his feet and turn away, wishing he hadn't heard what TJ had just told him. It had been so much easier to think of her forgetting him and moving on, enjoying her life on Earth and never turning her gaze to the stars except in awe of their beauty. 

Even now that he knew how deeply she cared for him, he had hoped the happiness that had eluded him while they were apart had somehow found her in his absence. It would have made the time they had lost more bearable--and it would make the future less bleak, for he knew he could not stay on the Megaship forever. The thought of causing her any further pain was one he couldn't face right now. 

Then TJ's voice came again. "Phantom?" 

He turned his head, knowing he wouldn't be able to speak without giving himself away. 

TJ sighed. "Look, maybe that was a little harsh. It's just that I can't stand to see her hurting, and it would have been so simple for you to just show up every once in a while. Especially after we went into space--she was so glad to see you on Hercuron, even in the middle of Astronema's scheming. I suppose you were too busy to notice." 

"I noticed," Phantom answered quietly, hoping TJ didn't hear the tremor in his voice. He didn't add that having her arm around him when they rescued him from Ecliptor had been the best thing that had happened to him in weeks. 

"Then why did you leave?!" TJ burst out. "You knew we would come back for you after we defeated that monster on Earth--why didn't you wait?" 

"I couldn't," Phantom whispered, knowing it was an answer TJ would never let rest. But there was no way the other Ranger could understand how hard that decision had been. 

TJ sighed, obviously exasperated, but Phantom continued before he could speak. "Unlike you, I do not heal faster when I am morphed, and the injuries I sustained on Hercuron were too severe for me to recover from in this form." 

"And you didn't want to demorph in front of us," TJ finished. He considered that for a moment, then said, "All right. I'll accept that you had your reasons for that. But you could have at least contacted us later to let us know you were all right." 

Back still turned to TJ, Phantom braced himself against the counter next to the patient bed and closed his eyes. "You can't know how much I wanted to," he told the other, remembering nights he had woken from nightmares gasping for breath and wanting nothing more than to hear the sound of her voice. "But I left a message for your team, and for her, on Hercuron." 

"Yeah; it was really comforting," TJ agree sarcastically. "You could barely stand up, and you said you were leaving on a mission which we all knew could get you killed!" 

"I had to," Phantom protested, guilt warring with his growing anger. "The lives of thousands, maybe millions of people depend on Dark Spectre being stopped before he drains Zordon's powers completely." 

"And billions more would suffer, indirectly," TJ allowed. "I'm not denying that what you're doing is right--it's *how* you're doing it that I object to. Do you know Cassie uploaded that message you left to the computer terminal in her room? How many times do you think she's stayed awake, staring out at the stars, hearing your words over again and wondering if you're all right?" 

The image of Cassie doing just that sprang to mind all too easily, and Phantom couldn't stand it anymore. Slamming his fist down on the counter, he growled, "Why are you telling me this?" 

"Because she won't, and someone has to," TJ retorted. "Because every time she watches that message she hears you say, 'I'll see you soon, Cassie.' When is soon, Phantom? At her college graduation? After she's married?!" 

"Stop it!" Phantom shouted, spinning around to face TJ. "I know I've hurt her, and I am *sorry*!" 

The startled look on TJ's face made him pause, and he tried to force himself to calm down. Cassie would never forgive him if he hit one of her friends. 

Phantom took a deep breath. "I understand what you are saying--that Cassie would be better off with another…" The words hurt, all the more so because he knew they were true. "I am sure this would all be easier if you were me, and could be the person you wish I was," he added bitterly. "But you are *not* me, and there are things you do not understand." 

"No," TJ acknowledged, his voice abruptly quiet. "I'm not you. Frankly, I've been a better friend than you have. I've been there when she needed someone. I've helped her study for chemistry when she was convinced she couldn't learn it, and I've dragged her down to the beach afterwards to cheer her up. I've gone on her crazy hiking expeditions when she just needed to get away from it all. I've listened when she wanted to talk, and I've cried on her shoulder and let her cry on mine when we needed it. 

"That's what friends do, and that's what I am to her: a friend. You're the one she loves, and I don't think you appreciate how special that is." 

Phantom didn't reply right away, feeling the pieces click together in his mind. "You… like her," he observed at last. 

"We're best friends," TJ answered warily. 

"That is not what I meant," Phantom said, more convinced by that quiet recitation than he had been by all of TJ's accusations. "I did not realize--I'm sorry." 

There was silence for a moment, then TJ shrugged. "It's not your fault. That's how things worked out. I just want to see her happy." 

Phantom nodded slowly. "As do I. And--" 

He swallowed, trying to get out the hardest thing he'd ever had to say. "If there is any way she could be happy with you…" 

"She wouldn't be," TJ cut him off, and, no matter how selfish, Phantom couldn't help the twinge of relief that accompanied the other Ranger's words. 

"She's in love, Phantom, and it isn't with me." TJ regarded him steadily. "She needs *you*. All I'm trying to do is to get you to see that." 

Phantom gazed back, wondering if he could be so selfless if their positions were reversed. "Thank you," he said finally, not knowing how else to respond. "I will… think about what you have said." 

"Do that," TJ agreed. "And while you're doing that? Do yourself a favor: demorph and *sleep*. Do it so Cassie will have someone to come back to, if for no other reason." 

The Blue Ranger turned away without waiting for an answer, but he hesitated in the doorway. Looking over his shoulder, he added softly, "And Phantom? Remember how lucky you are." 

*Lucky…* The word had an ironic ring. With a slight nod, he watched TJ go.

_fin_


	11. Follow The Stars

_Disclaimer: I didn't create Power Rangers. I don't own Power Rangers. I don't work for Power Rangers. I am not a Power Ranger. I think that pretty much covers it._

**

Follow The Stars  
by Starhawk

**

He had looked at her with that intense gaze of his, and she had been drawn irresistibly closer. Staring into the eyes of the one she had seen only in times of crisis and shadow, always in a hurry and no time to exchange more than a sentence of two, she had seen a familiar soul. Past lives and soulmates had never been the kind of thing she put much stock in, but at that moment, she had been sure the two of them had known each other in another time. 

Staring through the transparent canopy of his fighter, Cassie couldn't keep her mind from wandering back to Phantom. *Or--Saryn?* Gratified though she was to know his name, she wondered if she would ever dare use it. *Would he even want me to? He told me under sort of unusual circumstances…* 

To kiss him had been only natural--but as she leaned closer, her certainty had fled and she had had time to wonder what she was doing. Their mouths had met, and when he didn't move, she had been sure she had just made the biggest mistake of her life. 

Then, as though waking from a dream, he had started to respond. His touch had definitely *not* been the touch of someone innocent of such matters, but she hadn't had time to care. He had pulled her close and quite literally taken her breath away. 

Cassie sighed at the memory. *I have *never* been kissed like that before…* 

She had let herself get lost in the sensation, and a crushing disappointment had overtaken her when he pulled back. She had suddenly thought that she was the only one being swept away, and maybe he had wanted to distance himself from her feelings and expectation.

But he had been so willing to kiss her again, and the words he had uttered in the Medical bay had come back to her with startling clarity: *"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"* 

*Did he mean that?* she wondered, remembering how quickly his embrace had erased her doubts. When she considered it logically, she acknowledged how unlikely a couple they were--but all she had to do was think of him, and logic went right out the window. 

A scratching sound jolted her out of her musing, and she looked around in alarm. So far, the basic piloting skills she had learned on the Megaship, combined with the bizarre instinct that had somehow guided her understanding of the controls around her, had been enough to keep her in control of the starfighter. *But what was that?* she thought, searching for the source. 

The noise came again, fainter this time, and she looked down in sudden comprehension. She reached for the engine controls, bringing the little ship out of hyperspace and spinning it around on thruster power to backtrack along her previous course. The sound intensified once more, and she couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. 

The sound was static--and it was coming from her communicator. Not the comm system on Phantom's ship, but the morpher she wore around her wrist. The morphers could only receive transmissions over a very narrow band, and the only people who knew that specific frequency were the Astro Rangers themselves. 

She touched her communicator. "Ashley? Andros? Are you guys out there?" 

Her voice sounded strange, piercing the quiet that had surrounded her for hours. She had found the silence and the cramped quarters did not bother her a bit--until now. Now, with static the only reply to her words, she frowned. 

"Ashley?" Cassie tried again. "Andros?" 

Still no response, and she started to worry. Static usually meant the intended recipient of the transmission was out of range--yet static had been the original signal, and she could pinpoint the source on the scanners. 

Tracking the signal to its location, she found nothing. Narrowing her eyes at the scanners, she upped their sensitivity until they revealed the origin of the mysterious static: a tiny piece of free-floating metal in the vastness of space. 

It took Cassie a moment to identify it. The scanners wouldn't give her a picture, but they did give her the specs for the diminutive object. Roughly circular, less than a centimeter in diameter, and made out of-- 

*One of our homing devices!* Fear stabbed at her heart and grew exponentially for a fraction of a second, which was exactly how long in took for her brain to take over again. 

The homing device *couldn't* be all that was left of her friends--it was behaving too strangely. *I didn't even know those things could be set to emit static pulses like that,* she thought, listening to the odd popping sound. *That has to have been done deliberately--but why?* 

Without thinking, she reached for the comm system. She stopped just short of signaling the Megaship, realizing as she did so that she was no longer protected by a bubble of hyperspace. Scanning the region, she could detect no sign of enemy vessels--although the scan did show occasional blips, thanks to the surface activity of a nearby star. 

*It's a good thing there are safeties built into the hyperdrive,* Cassie thought, shivering as it occurred to her for the first time how close she had come to coming out of hyperspace *in* the star rather than next to it. The stellar luminary was a relatively benign one, G-type, and it was light years away from her current position. But in hyperspace, light years passed in the blink of an eye, and *any* star's corona was an unfriendly place to end up. 

Satisfied she was alone in this part of space, she put the thought aside and touched the comm controls. The system had already been keyed to the Rangers' comm frequency when she came aboard, and she marveled, not for the first time, at how simple the setup of this ship was. It made more sense to her than the Megaship ever had, and on the Megaship she'd had Alpha and DECA to help her out. 

The little viewscreen embedded in the helm lit up, and she saw Carlos's face looking back at her. "Cassie?" he asked immediately. "Are you all right?" 

She nodded. "I'm fine, Carlos, and I've found something. The only problem is, I can't figure out what it means…" 

She trailed off as Carlos looked away, glancing at something offscreen. "TJ," he called, "message from Cassie." 

"Cassie?" she heard TJ exclaim, and a moment later he was at Carlos's side. "Oh, you morphed; good thinking." 

She glanced down inadvertently. "Well, I haven't eaten since breakfast. I don't notice as much when I'm morphed." She wished she could ask about Phantom, but she'd asked the other two times she'd contacted them as well, and she knew they'd tell her if anything was wrong. She settled for, "Is everything okay over there?" 

TJ saw through her anyway. "Phantom's fine," he promised, smiling at her. Guilt washed over her suddenly, and she was sorry she had been so obvious. Of course he was all right; TJ and Carlos were taking care of him. She wished she could see for herself, but that was no reason to make them think she doubted them. 

"In fact, I was just talking to him," TJ continued, "but I think I convinced him to go back to sleep." 

"Good. He certainly needs it," she said emphatically, wondering if he had morphed as soon as he had woken up. "Is he--" 

"Unmorphed?" TJ supplied, and she smiled a little. He knew her too well. "He should be--he was morphed while I was talking to him, but I read him the riot act, so if he didn't demorph after I left, it's not for lack of effort." 

"Thanks, Teej," she said, unable to shake the feeling of guilt. 

"Hey, someone has to keep him in line while you're gone," he teased. Her smile widened, though she knew he couldn't see it. 

Before she could repeat thanks, Carlos interrupted. "You said you found something, Cassie?" 

"Yeah," she said, dragging her mind away from Phantom. She held up her morpher, from which intermittent static was still coming. "Listen." 

"What *is* that?" TJ asked, after a few seconds. 

"I found one of the homing devices we were using," Cassie explained. "It's just floating out here, giving off random static pulses." 

The horror that flashed across Carlos's face told her that he'd taken it wrong. "No--I think it was done on purpose," she hurried to assure him. "I think one of them left it for us to find. I just can't figure out *why*." 

"A warning?" TJ suggested, listening to the noise with renewed interest. "Telling us not to follow?" 

"Not to follow the fleet, maybe," Carlos said slowly. "What if--" He snapped his fingers. "What if they managed to get off the ship they were on and started off in a different direction?" 

Cassie raised an eyebrow, glad he wouldn't see her incredulity beneath her visor. "And what if it's just to let us know they're still alive? What if it *has* no meaning, other than that?" 

TJ shook his head. "They'd figure we assumed that. I mean, if we didn't, why would we follow the fleet in the first place?" 

"Revenge," Carlos muttered darkly. 

TJ raised an eyebrow. "Well, all right. But let's think positively here, okay?" 

Cassie sighed. She couldn't help feeling this was all her fault. If she and Phantom hadn't gotten ambushed, Divatox never would have known what was happening. Andros and Ashley would still be with them, and they might even have Zordon by now. 

"Cassie?" TJ asked, concern evident in his expression no matter how far away he was. "What's wrong?" 

She shook her head. "It's just--I feel like I'm to blame for this. Phantom and I were the ones that gave all of us away…" 

"Cassie, *none* of this is your fault," Carlos interjected, and she could hear puzzlement in his voice. "Pirahnatrons could have surprised any of us. We knew how hard it was going to be before we started; no one expected this to go the way we planned." 

"Even Andros said we'd have to make it up as we went along," TJ reminded her. "You can't hold yourself responsible for something you had no control over." 

They were right, of course. "I know," she admitted, "but I can't keep from feeling guilty. I don't know why." 

They were all silent for a moment, and she felt bad all over again for interrupting the conversation. She wasn't the focus here, after all. Before she could apologize, though, TJ spoke up. 

"Cassie," he said slowly, shifting a little on the Bridge of the Megaship. "It's not your fault, and you know it. Maybe you're--" He glanced at Carlos. "Maybe someone else is influencing you." 

Carlos didn't miss the look. "What are you looking at me for? *I* didn't do anything!"

*Phantom.* She knew what he meant instantly, and she silently thanked him for his tact. She really didn't want to have to explain to Carlos, too. 

She managed to laugh. "That's not what he meant, Carlos. He's just saying I'm feeling guilty for the wrong reasons." *And he might be right…* 

Carlos shook his head. "Whatever. Let's just figure out what this beacon means so we can get our friends back." 

This time, the guilt was definitely hers, and she shot a sheepish look at TJ. He gave her a fractional shrug, but he looked a little chagrinned too. They couldn't say anything for fear of annoying Carlos further, but she reminded herself to tell him later how much she appreciated his keeping her secret. 

"It sounds like there's a pattern to that static," the Black Ranger said suddenly. Cassie had to concentrate to ignore another flash of guilt, but now that she had an idea where it was coming from, she found she could do it. 

*What is he so upset about?* she wondered, wishing she could ask TJ to go check on Phantom again. 

"Cassie, can you send us a recording of what you're hearing?" TJ asked, and she came out of her reverie. 

"Sure," she said, hoping they hadn't noticed her distraction this time. "I'm going to have to cut you off to record it, though--give me a second." 

They both nodded at her, and she ended the transmission. Still active, the comm immediately picked up the static as well, echoing the morpher on her wrist. Without thinking about it, she reached out and set the computer to record several cycles of the odd rhythm. It was something DECA did automatically on the Megaship, yet she found that her fingers knew which controls to push to make it happen. 

Cassie shook her head. *When I get back, we are going to have a *long* talk about this link thing.* 

Contacting the Megaship again, she told the others, "I'm sending the recording now." 

After a moment, TJ announced, "We've got it.' 

"DECA," Carlos requested, 'will you play that signal for us, constant replay with a pause between each cycle?" 

All three of them sat or stood, listening to the repeating static pulses, but could find no more meaning in them than they had before. 

"Maybe we're reading too much into this," TJ said at last. "What if it's just supposed to get our attention?" 

"Well, it's done that," Carlos muttered. "What were they thinking?" 

"If it *is* telling us that they're not with the fleet anymore," TJ said, going back to Carlos's earlier speculation, "then where are they?" 

"You can't isolate individual vapor trails out there, can you, Cassie?" Carlos asked.

She looked up, startled. "What?" She was embarrassed to realize that she'd been drifting again. A song had planted itself firmly in her mind, and she couldn't get rid of it no matter how she tried. "I'm sorry; I wasn't listening." 

She saw Carlos and TJ exchange glances, but neither said anything. "Can you track individual ships in the fleet's wake?" Carlos repeated patiently. "If one of them, say, headed off in a different direction, would you be able to tell?" 

She looked down at the scanners, but she already knew the answer. "No… the vapor trails are pretty intermingled. I'd have to get a fair distance away from the path of the fleet before I could pick up any individual trails at all, and a search that could cover that kind of area would take days."

"That's what I thought," Carlos said, looking disappointed nonetheless. 

"Well, we can't ignore any option," TJ pointed out. "You're right about that--so what if there *is* a message in the static?" 

"Some kind of code," Carlos agreed, leaning against a console. "Morse?" 

"Does Ashley know Morse code?" TJ asked doubtfully. 

"Andros certainly doesn't," Carlos said. 

Cassie heard their speculation, but that stupid song kept distracting her. She suspected it was because she'd been thinking about Phantom, and the chorus, in her more melancholy moments, had always reminded her of him: 

*Whenever I'm lost, I look to the stars/ I follow their path, I see where you are/ I hear your promise, you smile at me/ And we follow the stars, together and free* 

She had sung the song just recently, for her friends after dinner one night. It was a nice song, but a little unusual. It didn't have much melody; the lyrics depended almost entirely on rhythm for their musicality… 

She sat up straight in her seat, hearing the static pulses in a whole new light. "Guys," she said suddenly, cutting into their discussion. "Does that sound familiar to you?" 

They looked at each other again, probably doubting her sanity, or at least her usefulness, at this point, but she ignored it. "Listen! Think last week--that cookout we had at the beach?" 

Carlos's expression said she had clearly lost it, but TJ was frowning. "Wait. She's right; there is something familiar about it." 

Cassie hummed along with the static bursts, and his frown dissolved, to be replaced first by surprise and then excitement. "Cassie--that's the song you sang!" 

"Or at least the last part of the chorus," she agreed. "It's pretty distinctive." 

"Follow the Stars," Carlos said suddenly, and she nodded. 

"But what does that mean?" TJ demanded, frustrated once more. 

Cassie gazed out the port side of the canopy, toward the star she had almost landed in when she dropped out of hyperspace to trace the static signal. "I think I know what it means," she told them. 

***

In the cold loneliness of an escape pod, making its slow way across the interstellar void, Ashley nestled against Andros's side and wished she didn't have to move. He was the only comfort she needed in their somewhat precarious situation--but he was almost too much of a comfort. She was dangerously close to falling asleep. 

"Andros?" she whispered. 

There was no answer, and she turned her head to look up at him. Andros's eyes were closed, and the expression on his face was so peaceful she hated to wake him. But she could feel the drop in temperature the moment she tilted her head away from his shoulder, and she knew it was too chilly for either of them to be dozing off. 

"Hey, Andros," she tried again, surprised and pleased that he had relaxed enough to sleep this soundly with her so close by. 

Straightening a little, she kissed his cheek. "Come on, love," she whispered, feeling a thrill at the word but knowing it would be a while before she would dare use it when he could hear. "Time to wake up." 

Andros moved a little, and she felt his arm stiffen against her back as he stretched. "I'm awake," he murmured, without opening his eyes. She watched his chest rise as he took a deep breath, and he relaxed again, his hand settling on her shoulder once more. 

"Sure you are," she teased gently, reluctant to disturb him but suspecting he wasn't much closer to consciousness than he had been a minute ago. "C'mon, Andros; you'll have to do better than that." 

She felt him sigh, but when he cracked his eyelids open, he smiled at her. "Well, the bad news is, we're still on an escape pod in the middle of nowhere. But the good news is that I'm waking up next to Ashley Hammond." 

His tone was lazy, but the words were suspiciously clear, and she wondered how deeply asleep he had actually been. *On the other hand,* she thought, *if he's going to say things like that, I don't care.* 

She pulled herself up slowly, feeling the cool air slink in as soon as she left his embrace. But it didn't last--unfolding her arm, she reached around him and tilted his head down toward her. She saw him close his eyes as she kissed him, and when she drew back again, they fluttered open, clear and untroubled. 

"We'll have to do it again sometime," she said, knowing she shouldn't tease him so but unable to let the comment about waking up next to her pass unremarked. 

To her surprise, he didn't blush. "I'd like that," Andros told her with a smile. 

Her eyes widened, and she could only stare at him. *Does he know what he just said?* she wondered, stunned. 

Taking in her startled expression, Andros leaned closer. "Ash," he whispered. "You were just kidding, right?" 

She dissolved into relieved giggles. "Mostly," she admitted, "but you almost gave me a heart attack!" 

"Sorry," he offered, the apology somewhat spoiled by the grin on his face. "I thought you knew I wasn't serious." 

She couldn't seem to stop laughing, and she buried her face in his chest. "Andros, don't do that to me," she managed to get out, between giggles.

"It's only fair," he pointed out, and the grin came through in his voice. "You've been--I don't know--teasing me I guess, for the last few days." 

"I'm a bad influence," she said, still chuckling. "Oh, Andros…" 

He still had one arm around her, and this time she noticed him tense when the closeness suddenly bothered him. She started to draw back, but his arm tightened and he patted her back reassuringly. "It's all right; just give me a second." 

She quieted, letting him rub small circles on her back while he struggled to get his emotions under control. She didn't understand exactly what upset him--why he drew away from her on the Simudeck this morning, why he couldn't seem to let go for very long--but she trusted him when he said it was all right, so she didn't move. 

She felt him draw in a deep breath. "I'm sorry," he said after a moment. "It's just taking me a while to get used to… us. Everything is so perfect, and then I'll suddenly think that this can't really be happening--like it's a dream, or something." 

"It's real," Ashley promised softly, pressing her hands against his chest and lifting her head to look up at him. 

His brown eyes sparkled at her in the dim light, and he leaned closer. She closed her eyes, and felt him gently kiss her lips. In that instant, she knew exactly what he had meant when he said he felt as though he were in a dream… 

"Andros?" she murmured a moment later. "If it *isn't* real… I don't want to wake up." 

She could feel his breath, warm on her face when he exhaled. "Me neither," Andros agreed softly. 

"But that reminds me," he added, running a hand through her hair. "What I said before--I was kidding, but I don't want you to think… I mean, I wouldn't…" 

He looked at her helplessly, and she tried not to smile at his confusion. "What you said before?" she prompted, and he shrugged a little uncomfortably. 

"About waking up next to you," he clarified, and now she couldn't help smiling. 

"Oh," Ashley said, not sure what to say. "That." 

"Yeah," he agreed, his expression nervous. "I don't want you to think I don't *want* to--it's just--" 

"Too soon," she finished, relieved, and he nodded. 

"Andros--I'm not ready for sex," she told him bluntly. A faint smile crept over her face, and she added, "No matter how much I tease you." 

He sighed. "You don't know how glad I am to hear that." 

She swatted his arm playfully, and he grinned. "Well, what did you expect me to say?" 

Ashley laughed, but a familiar and long absent sound hummed into the relative quiet of the pod, causing her to fall silent. Startled, she glanced down at her wrist, then back up to meet Andros's wide-eyed gaze. 

The sound came again, a low-pitched but distinctive alert that for months had told them when another Ranger was trying to contact them. Andros stared at his morpher as though he'd never heard it before. 

Finally, Ashley gave her head a shake and reached for her own morpher. "This is Ashley," she said tentatively. 

"Ashley!" Cassie's voice came back, only slightly distorted by the communicator. "Are you and Andros all right?" 

She caught Andros's eye. "Yeah," she said, seeing him smile at her. "Yeah, we're all right." 

Suddenly remembering who she was talking to, she refocused her attention. "Cassie! Are *you* all right? What happened to you guys?" 

"Good to hear from you, too," Cassie's wry voice answered. "I'm going to transmit your coordinates back to the Megaship--hold on." 

"Wait," Andros said, leaning forward. "You're not on the Megaship?" 

"Cassie, what's going on?" Ashley demanded. 

"The Megaship's in hiding," Cassie told them. "The others are waiting in the damping field of the Sanctuary moon--I came in Phantom's ship to try and track you guys down." 

Ashley raised an eyebrow, but Andros nodded. "Of course. His ship has an EM cloak, and it's small enough that it would have to get really close before its mass would set off proximity alarms." 

"But what about Phantom?" Ashley wanted to know, feeling that they were missing a fundamental part of the story here. 

There was just enough hesitation before Cassie answered to make Ashley wonder. "He's not really up to going anywhere right now," she said at last. "We were ambushed, and he took a blaster shot that was meant for me. He wasn't conscious when I left." 

Ashley shot a worried look in Andros's direction, but he was frowning at her morpher. "Cassie, we don't have the power to teleport Phantom's ship back to the Megaship. Even if you can relay our coordinates, you'll have to fly back on your own." 

"I know," Cassie answered. "I'll be okay, though--I got out all right, and the fleet waiting by the moon won't be looking for someone going *in*." 

There was a pause, then Cassie told them, "The Megaship's got a coordinate lock." 

Ashley took a deep breath, thinking of the hundred questions she wanted to ask. But the sooner they teleported out, the sooner Cassie could start back, so she picked up her helmet and said only, "Be careful, Cassie." 

"I will be," her friend promised. "I'm glad you guys are okay--see you on the other side."

She had time to reach for Andros's hand before the world dissolved in swirls of golden light. Teleportation took longer than normal, but she could almost feel his presence beside her--and was it her imagination, or did crimson sparkles dot her vision just before the Megaship's Bridge reformed around her? 

The familiar scene was somehow alien after all those hours on the escape pod, and Ashley blinked a few times. She looked at Andros, who nodded and let go of her hand. 

"Power down," they announced simultaneously, and she felt her energy beginning to drain out of her. As the Power left her, the adrenaline that had been keeping her going started to fade as well--more slowly, but just as noticeably. 

Then a black blur engulfed her in a hug, and all she could worry about was suffocating. "Carlos," she gasped, hugging back and wondering if she should have stayed morphed. "What are you doing up? It must be almost midnight!" 

"With you two out there alone?" he asked indignantly. "And it's half past, by the way." 

"Half past *midnight*?" Ashley squeaked. 

"Cassie's been sending us reports every few hours or so," TJ told them, clasping Andros's hand. "It's good to have you back." 

Carlos finally let her go, and she took a moment to rub her eyes. The Megaship's lighting was substantially brighter than what her eyes were accustomed to. "It's good to *be* back," she told them fervently. "I can't believe you guys found us!" 

"Well, that song was a little obscure," Carlos said, slapping Andros on the back even as he gave the Red Ranger an evil look. "You're lucky Cassie recognized it." 

"And figured out what it meant," TJ added, drawing a confused Ashley into a second hug.

"It was the only thing I could think of," Andros mumbled, clearly overwhelmed by the attention. 

"Wait," Ashley said, slipping away from TJ to stand beside Andros again. "What song is this?" 

Andros shrugged. "I modified my homing device to emit a static pattern if it detected the presence of an astromorpher nearby. I left it behind a little while after we jettisoned, so that if anyone came looking for us, they'd have some warning that we weren't on the fleet ships anymore."

"Thanks for telling me," she said, indignant. She punched Andros lightly in the shoulder. 

"You didn't know?" TJ asked, raising an eyebrow at her. 

Andros shrugged uncomfortably. "We were busy." 

Ashley realized how that must have sounded to the others, and she shot a covert look at Carlos and TJ. She didn't help matters any by blushing, and she saw the two of them exchange startled glances. 

"Busy?" she asked Andros archly, trying to rectify the situation. "You fell asleep!" 

"You fell asleep first," he retorted. 

The other two were regarding them oddly, and Ashley was torn between blushing harder and bursting into laughter. "It's not what you think," she tried to tell them, looking to Andros for help. 

Andros only looked puzzled, and she fell for it--until she saw him turn slightly and wink at her. Startled, she tried not to give him away by grinning. "It was cold, and we were trying not to doze off…" 

Seeing that this was not helping their case, she gave up. "I'll explain in the morning," Ashley said with a sigh, ignoring TJ's obvious amusement. 

"Right," Carlos agreed knowingly. "In the morning." 

She glared at him, and he held up his hands to ward her off, grinning. "Sorry--you have to admit, it sounds pretty compromising, Ash." 

Ashley just shook her head. "Boys!" she exclaimed, exasperated. 

"Aw, come on," TJ said, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder. "We were just kidding. And what would you do without us, anyway?" 

"Have some peace and quiet?" she suggested, seeing Andros bite his lip to keep from smiling. She was tempted to stick her tongue out at him, but she didn't want to draw attention to him now, after he had so carefully avoided the argument. 

"I hate to remind you, Ash, but you're a Power Ranger," Carlos said. "Peace and quiet isn't part of the job description." 

"Maybe not," Andros said, joining the conversation at last. He came over and put his hand on her shoulder. "But sleep is, and it's something we all need right now." 

"That kind of 'sleep' won't help," Carlos cracked, and Ashley made a face at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Andros roll his eyes and give the Black Ranger The Look, and she cheered mentally. 

"I'll wait up for Cassie," TJ volunteered, apparently deciding it was in his best interests to ignore the exchange. "You guys get some rest." 

Torn, Ashley hesitated. She was *tired*--but so must Cassie be, and the Pink Ranger had devoted much of the day to searching for her and Andros. It was thanks to her that they *could* sleep right now. 

"Come on," Andros said, tugging gently on her shoulder. "She'll understand, and you really do need some sleep." 

"Me?" Ashley exclaimed, but she let him draw her toward the lift. "What about you?" 

"I'm coming with you, aren't I?" he asked, guiding her through the lift doors and stepping in behind her. She didn't even want to know what the others read into that, and she was almost too tired to care. 

As the doors closed, she heard TJ say, "You too, Carlos. I don't mind, really." 

Then there was only the hum of the lift, and she leaned back against the wall. She didn't remember closing her eyes, but they flew open at the slight jolt that signaled the lift's arrival. 

She pushed away from the wall with an effort, and followed Andros wordlessly down the hall. He didn't stop at his door; instead, he walked with her to her room and waited while she keyed the door open. 

Ashley turned around to face him, and he smiled at her. "You're pretty when you're tired," he told her softly, and she looked down, brushing hair out of her face self-consciously. 

His touch surprised her, and she let him tilt her head upward. Then he kissed her, and she leaned against him, suddenly wishing he wasn't leaving. They'd been together almost nonstop since they'd woken up that morning, and she wondered what it would be like to be alone again. 

They clung to each other for a little longer, until Andros finally stepped away. "'Night, Ash," he whispered. 

"Good night," she answered quietly, watching him turn and head for his own room.

"Andros?" she asked, and he stopped, looking over his shoulder questioningly. "I'm glad we talked." 

"About what?" he asked, after a moment's reflection. 

"Everything," she said simply, and he nodded. 

"Me, too," he told her, the corner of his mouth quirking up. 

She raised her hand and curled her fingers in a half-wave, and he nodded. "Good night…" 

"'Night," she replied, stifling a yawn. She watched until he disappeared into his room. 

Hitting the control pad by her own door, she turned the lights up to half-strength and let the door close behind her. Almost automatically, she pulled her boots off and tossed her jacket on the chair. 

As she brushed her teeth, it occurred to her that she hadn't eaten in far too long--but she couldn't face the thought of the long walk to the Glider holding bay. Even the process of eating itself sounded like too much work right now, so she simply collapsed onto her bunk --in tank top and uniform pants--and promised her stomach a large breakfast when she woke up. 

Ashley felt sleep overtake her almost immediately. Just as she started to doze off, though, she was jolted awake by some internal alarm. She tried to calm her heart, knowing the adrenaline surge was only a side effect of those hours on the escape pod when she *couldn't* let herself sleep. 

Inhaling deeply, she reminded herself of where she was. *It's okay,* she told herself. *It's safe here. No enemy about to blow you to pieces; no icy cold waiting to sneak in while you rest your eyes.* 

She relaxed slowly, and sleep waited just around the corner… 

This time, she was sure she actually fell asleep. It was several minutes later that she awoke, heart pounding and certain her fingers were about to freeze.

*I don't believe this,* Ashley thought, staring at the bunk above her. *I didn't have this much trouble sleeping on the escape pod, for Heaven's sake.* 

There was a quiet knock on her door, and she groaned. Pushing her blanket off of her, she rolled clumsily to her feet, hampered by stiffness from sheer fatigue and remembered cold.

Keying the door open, she squinted into the too-bright light of the hallway. "Andros?" she whispered, too tired to be surprised. 

He nodded miserably, and she touched his arm in sympathy. "Can't sleep?" she murmured.

"I tried," he said quietly. "I keep waking up. It was easier to sleep on that pod than it is to sleep here, *remembering* the pod." 

It was her turn to nod. "I know. Believe me, I understand." She hesitated, but she was too tired to care what he thought at this point. "Do you want to come in?" 

"Can I?" he asked, lifting his gaze at last to search her expression. 

Without a word, she stepped aside to let him enter. The door closed as soon as he stepped through, and they stood there in darkness for several seconds before it occurred to her to turn the lights up. 

They looked at each other, exhausted and yet unable to sleep, and the words wouldn't come. Finally, Ashley walked over to her bunk, took the pillow from the top bunk and placed it with her own against the wall. Climbing onto the bunk, she leaned against the makeshift backrest and cocked her head at him. "Sit down?" she asked quietly. 

He joined her without hesitation, crawling over the mattress and propping himself up on the pillows. He let his head lean back against the wall, and she saw his eyes slide closed. She sat forward, rearranging her legs, and she felt Andros's arm go around her bare shoulders. 

With a contented smile, Ashley leaned back and snuggled closer to him. Seconds later, she was fast asleep.

***

The ride back had been less than eventful, and Cassie had been hard-pressed to keep herself focused. As it grew later, even the Power couldn't keep the stresses of the day from catching up with her, and she found herself yawning deeply and often. 

By the time she had the Sanctuary moon on her scanners, she could only offer thanks that Divatox's ships were all concentrated on keeping them in, rather than keeping visitors out. She had been able to maneuver past their tight guard earlier, but now she just let the ship's cloak carry her through, figuring that refuge was only seconds away if they turned on her. 

The cloak did its job, however, and by skill or sheer luck she avoided triggering any kind of hostile reaction. Coasting into the damping field, she winced as the nav computer went dark, followed quickly by scanners and short-range communications. 

She hyperboosted a signal to DECA, and the hangar bay doors at the back of the Megaship started to open for her. *This is where I cross my fingers,* she thought, suiting actions to thoughts. 

Firing the forward thrusters, Cassie slowed the ship to little more than a crawl. She inched forward on residual momentum, depending entirely on her eyes to line Phantom's ship up with the gap in the doors. 

The doors crept closer, and closer, finally surrounding the clearsteel canopy and swallowing the little fighter whole. She breathed a sigh of relief as the engines cleared the doors, which slid shut behind her with a thunderous roar that didn't reach her ears through the intervening vacuum. 

The antigravs came on automatically when the scanners, online again after the doors closed out the effects of the damping field, detected the deck's proximity. She felt the ship balance out, and it settled slowly to the ground amid a fog of coolant. 

The warning bright orange warning lights on the canopy seals flickered to green once the bay had repressurized, and she popped them open. The canopy lifted to allow her departure, and she clambered out of the cockpit and slid stiffly to the deck below. 

Just then, the doors connecting the hangar to the rest of the ship flew open, and a figure in gray stepped through them. "TJ!" Cassie exclaimed, waving. 

He strode toward her, and she crossed her wrists in front of her chest. Flinging her arms to the side, she was too tired to do anything but use the focus words. "Power down!" 

Her Ranger uniform disappeared, and she had time for a single breath before TJ reached her and wrapped her in a fierce hug. "Good job, Cass," he whispered, and she smiled. 

"I couldn't have done it without all of you," she assured him, hugging back. "Thanks for backing me up out there." 

"That's what teams are for," he said, letting her go and clapping her shoulder affectionately. "So, are you ready for some serious shut-eye, or what?" 

Cassie shook her head. "There's someone I want to check on first." 

Something flashed across TJ's face, an inexplicable sadness that she'd never seen before. "I thought you might," he said. The look was gone as quickly as it had come, and she dismissed it as her imagination. 

"Just remember to go to bed afterwards," he added, smiling, and she nodded. 

"Good night, TJ," she said, her mind racing ahead to Phantom. 

"Oh--" About to leave, he paused. "I almost forgot." TJ held something up, and she caught the glint of metal when he flipped it through the air in her direction. 

She caught it instinctively, and stared at the little data disk in fascination. "What is it?" 

"Listen and find out," he suggested over his shoulder, as he sauntered off. "See you in the morning, Cassie." 

"See you then," she agreed, still puzzled by the disk. 

Finally, she headed for the Medical bay, wondering what TJ could have given her. The lift deposited her at the end of Deck four, and she wandered down the corridor, turning the disk over in her fingers. 

She came to an abrupt halt in front of the bay, only noticing then that the doors were closed. And they had not slid open at her approach, which was almost as unusual. 

"DECA?" she asked. "Why are the Medical bay doors closed?" 

"The Medical bay has been locked from the inside," DECA replied. 

"Locked?" Cassie repeated incredulously. "By whom?" 

"The Phantom Ranger set a privacy lock on the doors two point five hours ago," DECA told her. 

Taken aback, she considered that. Remembering TJ's confidence that Phantom had demorphed, she assumed he had locked the doors so as to retain some measure of anonymity--but why he still wanted it, she could not fathom. 

Slowly, she turned away. She could override the lock, but she couldn't bring herself to disregard his wishes to such an extent. He was here, and he was recovering. That would have to be enough for now. 

Back in her room, she paused in her preparations for bed to regard the disk still clutched in her hand. Going over to her terminal, she touched the control panel beneath the computer's diskreader. It popped open, and she placed the object TJ had given her inside. The reader closed automatically, and she waited to see what would happen. 

The disk was audio only, and the strains of a carelessly strummed guitar emerged from the speakers. *The cookout at the beach,* she thought, smiling as she recognized the tune--and the background noise. *He must have had a recorder going that whole time.* 

Her own voice emanated from the speakers, strong and true, singing to embrace the camaraderie that had surrounded them that night and to chase away the campfire shadows. The deepening twilight had closed in, but their laughter and friendship kept it at bay. 

*And we follow the stars, together and free…*

_fin_


	12. Morning After

_Disclaimer: Saban owns these characters, their universe, and the awesome finale that aired November 20 and 21, 1998--thanks for an amazing couple of years, Astro Rangers._

**Morning After  
by Starhawk**

Andros opened his eyes slowly, taking in the not quite familiar appearance of the bunk above him. The faintest scent of flowers registered next, and he smiled to himself. Ashley's room.* 

For some reason, the thought did not alarm him. He had half-woken several times the night before, including once when she had gotten up for some unexplained reason. He vaguely remembered curling up on the mattress when she left, and the next time he was aware, she was lying beside him again. The constant reminder of her presence as he drifted in and out of sleep had prepared him for this moment, when he would wake up next to her and face what it meant. 

*I love her,* he admitted to himself, unable to keep the grin off his face as he allowed the words to solidify in his mind. There was no denying the feeling any longer--he suspected, looking back, that he had loved her for quite some time without realizing it. 

Turning on his side, Andros propped himself up on one elbow and regarded her. Eyes still closed, her breathing was slow and even and her hair spilled over her pillow like a halo. He remembered the exasperation she used to instill in him, with her impulsive and sometimes reckless behavior. 

*But it was always more than that,* he thought. *She scared me--every time she did something I didn't expect, every time she risked herself to save one of us, I worried that she wouldn't come back…* It wasn't so much annoyance with her naivete as it was fear for her safety--the same fear that had coursed through him yesterday when she waited in plain view of the approaching pirahnatrons in an attempt to overhear their conversation. 

"Don't scare me like that," he begged her sleeping form softly, knowing it was a request she would never be able to honor. They were Rangers, after all, and her courage was the flame that kept her soul burning bright in the face of the darkness around them. 

*You've shone your light into my life for so long, without compunction or question,* he thought, watching her stir a little. *And I've never thanked you for it…* 

Ashley's eyelids fluttered, and she sighed as she opened them and found herself staring up at him. "Hey," she offered sleepily. "S'you again." 

He raised an eyebrow. Apparently he wasn't the only one who had woken up on and off through the night. "Who else would it be?" he asked, amused. 

Ashley's lips curved upward. "No one, silly." She closed her eyes as she stretched her arms over her head, and he couldn't help but notice that her tank top had come untucked in the night, and it pulled up when she moved her arms. 

He looked away. Ashley often wore clothes that revealed more of her midriff than he could now see, but with their legs tangled in the blankets of her bed and their faces only centimeters away from each other, this situation was undeniably more intimate than their usual encounters. 

"Sleep well?" she asked, a yawn in her voice, and he looked back to see her watching him through half-closed eyes. 

He nodded, wondering if she had noticed his attention lapse. "Very," Andros assured her. "Better than I have in weeks, actually. You?" 

The lights brightened suddenly, and DECA's voice intruded. "It is ten o'clock--time to get up." 

"Ten o'clock?" Ashley repeated incredulously. 

"It is eight hours after the last Ranger returned to the Megaship," DECA replied. "The optimum sleep cycle was observed." 

"Thanks, DECA," Andros said, squinting in the light. "We'll get up in a minute." The camera blinked off, with no comment on their sleeping arrangements. 

"I slept well, too," Ashley said, as though they hadn't been interrupted. "Of course," she added with a teasing smile, "if *someone* wasn't such a blanket hog, I wouldn't have had to get up in the middle of the night to get another one." 

He grinned at her tone. "That's what you were doing… you woke me up, you know." 

"Like it's my fault that you have issues with sharing," she retorted, playfully slapping the hand closest to her. 

Instead of moving his hand, he caught hers and twined their fingers together. Gazing at her over their joined hands, he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. 

She didn't move for a moment, staring at him with her mouth slightly open. Then she rallied, pushing his shoulder with her free hand and giggling when he lost his balance and rolled onto his back. 

"You're just trying to make me forget about the blanket thing," Ashley said, a grin in her voice as she snatched her hand away from him. "One good turn deserves another… tickle fight!" she exclaimed, sitting up and ducking just in time to avoid hitting the top bunk. 

That didn't sound good, but before he could ask, she gave him an evil look and wiggled her fingers in his direction menacingly. Andros gasped in surprise when she lunged forward and grabbed him, running her fingers up and down his sides. He couldn't help the laughter that escaped--it had been years since anyone had tickled him, and he'd forgotten how distracting it was. 

He doubled over, pushing ineffectually at her hands and laughing uncontrollably. She showed no sign of stopping, and he was rapidly running out of breath-- 

He managed to catch one of her hands, pulling hard enough to make her collapse beside him. Rolling on top of her, Andros attacked her as she had done to him, and had the satisfaction of seeing her burst into giggles. 

"Andros," she panted between explosions of laughter, "you're evil!" 

"*I'm* evil?" he exclaimed, tickling harder. She squirmed, and he felt his fingers slip under her shirt. The strangest feeling ran through him, but she didn't stop laughing. "I'm not the one who started this," he reminded her, trying to ignore the soft feel of her skin and get his hands back to a more appropriate place. 

Giggling, Ashley curled around his arms, effectively trapping him. "Mercy!" she cried, barely able to get the word out through her laughter. 

"No mercy for you," he mock-growled, trying to keep up the pretense of the game lest she realize the predicament they were now in. He did let up a little, though, in case she meant it, and that was his mistake. 

Ashley got her laughter under control long enough to glare at him indignantly. "I'll show you 'no mercy'!" 

Abandoning her efforts to control his attack, she reached up and buried her fingers in his hair, drawing him close and kissing him hard. Heart already racing from their mock-battle, Andros forgot everything else and lost himself in the feel of her lips on his. 

She didn't let up when his tickling ceased, and he found himself pressing closer, returning her spontaneous kiss with a seriousness he had not intended. Surprised at his own reaction, he broke away, staring down at her as she opened her eyes. 

"Not fair," he whispered breathlessly. "You fight dirty." 

"Me?" she squeaked, making no attempt to move away. "'Mercy' means 'stop', remember? You broke the rules first!" 

Pulse still racing, he gazed at her face, barely registering her words. Cheeks flushed, her brown eyes sparkled at him in the artificial lighting of the room, and he didn't realize she was waiting for an answer until a hint of worry crept into her expression. 

"Andros?" she asked tentatively. "I'm sorry... was that too much?" 

"What?" He gave her a startled look. "No," he assured her, when he realized what she meant. "No, I--" Andros blushed. "I liked it." 

Shifting to one side, he leaned on his elbow and watched her smile. When she was happy, it had a way of spreading from her mouth up into her eyes, and there was no expression he liked to see on her more. 

"You look just like you did when I woke up," she observed quietly, studying his face, and he realized he had been smiling back at her. "What are you thinking about?" 

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Could he tell really her? "Just that--" *I love you,* he thought, feeling his smile growing into a grin but powerless to stop it. "I can't believe how lucky I am," he said at last. 

They weren't the words he wanted to say, but they were ones that he had said before in some form or other, and he knew she wouldn't laugh at them. He had dreamed yesterday, while they were on the escape pod, that she had called him "love"... coming from her, it had been the sweetest sound he'd ever heard. But it was only a dream, and he wasn't sure he could bare his heart to her completely without knowing for certain how she felt. 

"Me too," she sighed, her eyes not leaving his. "Do you realize how close we came to never meeting each other at all?" 

He tried not to shiver at the thought, but the air seemed suddenly chilly against his bare arms. "I guess I owe DECA. A *lot*." 

She must have seen him tremble, because she flipped her own blanket over his shoulders. "Why DECA?" 

He freed his arm, letting it rest on top of the blanket and completely negating her purpose in putting it where it was. She made a face at him, and he shrugged self-consciously. "DECA is the one who brought your shuttle on board. I wasn't here--she made that decision on her own. And she and Alpha were the ones who convinced me to turn around after I dropped you guys off on..." 

Andros swallowed, unable to finish the sentence. "I came so close to giving up the best thing that ever happened to me." 

"You're not the only one," Ashley said softly. She slid her arm underneath her and pushed herself up onto one elbow, mirroring his position. "After the Power Chamber was destroyed on Earth? I almost didn't go into space with the others." 

"Why not?" he asked, hearing the sorrow in her voice. 

She looked down. "We had always been invincible--I never thought our team could be defeated. When the megazords fell, it was like a nightmare. But we had always survived before, and we kept going by never thinking farther ahead than the next minute or so. 

"Then, in the Power Chamber..." She took a deep breath, obviously reliving traumatic memories. "The pirahnatrons got into our supposedly impenetrable fortress, and there was nothing we could do except barricade ourselves in the command center and wait for them to come. TJ never seemed to give up, and Justin held together pretty well--but Carlos was scared, and that scared me. Cassie and I just held onto each other, until the doors started to bend inward--we got ready for a last stand, and then the ceiling collapsed..." 

Andros had never heard the whole story behind their flight into space, and he listened in horrified fascination. Ashley took a shaky breath, and he saw a tear escape. Without a second thought, he reached out and wiped it away. 

She leaned her head against his hand briefly, and he stroked her cheek, waiting to see if she would to continue. "The Power Chamber was blown to pieces," she said at last, and another tear fled down her face. "We survived the explosion, but our powers were gone, and Divatox would have hunted us down if not for Dark Spectre calling her off at the last minute to attend his gathering of evil. 

"I don't think I ever realized how real a possibility death was until that day," Ashley said, staring into his eyes. "We'd been in trouble before, and just as close to never coming back from a fight, but it was never so real as it was during our last battle as the Turbo Rangers." 

Pushing himself into a sitting position, he regarded her impatiently. "Sit up," he requested, and she gave him an questioning look that was spoiled only by her sniffle. 

"I can't hug you lying down," he explained. She let out her breath in a half-chuckle, brushing another tear away as she complied. 

He enfolded her in his arms, closing his eyes as she relaxed against him. After a moment, he asked quietly, "What made you change your mind? About going into space, I mean?" 

"They were going," she said simply. "My best friends in the world, my family for more than a year, the people I would've given my life for if I had to--they were going into space, and I couldn't let them go without me." Taking a deep breath, she added, "I sometimes wonder if Justin wasn't the most courageous of all of us, staying behind like that... Without the team, I wouldn't have known who I was anymore." 

Pulling back to look at him, Ashley said seriously, "There were all the noble reasons for leaving earth; all the things I tell myself at night--and then there was the simple fact that I didn't want to be alone. I couldn't stand the thought of staring up at the stars every night and wondering about them." 

"That's called loyalty, Ash," he told her gently. "There's nothing wrong with it. Most people consider it a good trait, in fact." 

"It was selfishness," she whispered. 

Andros let his breath out all at once, giving her a wry smile. "And what I did wasn't? leaving you guys with the shuttle to be captured by Astronema, just because I thought I could do a better job of finding Zordon on my own?" 

"Big help we've been," Ashley muttered. 

"Hey," Andros said, alarmed by the derision in her voice. Tapping her chin, he forced her to look up. "We've survived, against incredible odds. We've stuck together. And we've done a lot of good as Astro Rangers. That's something that can never be diminished." 

She searched his expression for a moment, and a smile started to creep over her face. "You just said, 'we've stuck together.' The team is important to you too, isn't it?" 

"It didn't used to be," he admitted. "But now? Yeah. You guys are the best friends I've had in a long time--maybe ever. I can't imagine the Megaship empty again." 

"It won't be," she promised, drawing him into another hug. "You're right: we haven't done what we set out to do--yet--but we *have* made a difference, and we're all still together. The Megaship will never be empty so long as we're around." 

"That's what matters," Andros murmured into her hair, and she nodded. 

That sat and held each other in silence for a few moments, until he felt Ashley start to giggle. "What is it?" he whispered curiously, and her amusement only seemed to increase. 

"It can be sort of inconvenient sometimes, though," she managed to say, but the words didn't increase his comprehension to any significant degree. 

Settling back to look him in the eye, she cocked her head at him, laughter glittering in her eyes. "Think of what the others will say, if they find out we--" she stumbled a little, but continued without too much stuttering, "spent the night together, here. We'll never hear the end of it..." 

She dissolved into giggles again at the expression on his face. "Especially after last night," she added, between breaths. 

He remembered the conversation on the Bridge all too well, despite the fact that he had tried to stay out of it as much as possible. He had assumed that denying Carlos's implications would only add credibility to them, and frankly, he had been too tired to care much at the time.

With a sigh, Andros offered, "I guess that means I should go, huh?" 

The laughter faded from Ashley's expression, and she reached out to lay her hand alongside his face. "I guess," she agreed reluctantly. "If we're both late to breakfast, we'll probably get some strange looks..." 

As if on cue, Andros's stomach rumbled threateningly. "Normally, that wouldn't stop me from enjoying your company for as long as you'd have me," he said ruefully, and smiled when she chimed in with a cheerful "forever!" 

"But," he continued, swinging his legs over the side of her bunk, "I think my stomach is going to rebel if I don't get something into it soon. And you're probably just as hungry." 

She wrinkled her nose at him. "I wasn't, until you said that. Thanks a lot." 

His smile widened, and he stood, extending a hand to help her to her feet. She joined him, and they walked slowly toward the door. It opened for them, and he hesitated in the doorway, not sure what to say. 

Ashley paused as well, brushing her hair out of her face. "Not exactly an average date," she suggested with a smile. 

"No," Andros agreed, watching her hair tumble back toward her face as soon as her fingers released it. "It was better." 

He was rewarded with that brilliant smile of hers, a look of delight that reminded him of a rainbow he had seen when he was much younger--a luminescent splash of color against the sunstreaked sky, glistening high over land so recently soaked by rain. 

"See you at breakfast," Ashley said softly, and he nodded. 

Andros headed down the corridor, trying not to look over his shoulder. When he reached his door, though, the temptation was too great, and he looked back. She was still standing there, a knowing smile on her face as she waved. 

***

At the other end of the hallway, Andros disappeared into his room. Closer, Ashley's door slid shut as well, and Carlos let out a sigh of relief. He gave himself to the count of ten before he poked his head out into the hall again, and found it clear. Stepping quietly into the corridor, he released his door, letting it slide shut just as TJ strode out of his own room. 

Carlos stopped, realizing even as he did so that that was more incriminating than anything. If he had just kept walking, no one would have been the wiser--so it made him feel better when TJ's confident saunter halted abruptly as soon as he caught sight of Carlos. 

"Did you--?" Carlos cocked his head toward the now-closed door from which both their friends had emerged, pitching his voice low enough that the sound shouldn't carry beyond the immediate hallway. 

"See that?" TJ finished for him, his tone equally quiet. "Yeah. What's going on with them?" 

Carlos shrugged. "You think I know? I haven't had time to talk to Ashley in days." *She's always with Andros,* he added silently, but did not say as much. 

He and TJ just looked at each other for a moment. "It could be completely innocent," TJ offered at last. 

Carlos opened his mouth, then stopped himself, suspecting that TJ had been witness to far less of the encounter than he had. Carlos had stepped into the hallway just as Ashley's door opened, and he had almost called out to her before he saw Andros pause in her doorway--on his way out. They hadn't seemed to notice him, and Carlos had ducked back into his room without a word, catching the door so the noise of it sliding shut wouldn't alert them. 

Unfortunately, his stealth had made him an unwitting eavesdropper on their ensuing conversation. And the words they had exchanged convinced him that "innocent" was not the appropriate term. 

TJ must have seen some of that uncertainty on his face, for he pointed out, "And I suppose it's not really any of our business." 

"Who else is there?" Carlos objected, staring worriedly down the hall. 

TJ frowned. "What do you mean?" 

"On earth, she'd have her brother to watch out for her," Carlos said. "Or at least her parents. Out here, who do we have other than each other to look out for us?" 

TJ looked over his shoulder, as though he expected Andros or Ashley to be sneaking up on them while they spoke. "Let's get going before one of the others comes out and wants to know what we're talking about, all right?" 

Carlos nodded, and they made their way down the corridor. Neither said another word until they were in the lift and on their way. As soon as the doors closed, though, TJ turned to him and said, "Let me get this straight. You think Ashley needs someone to keep her out of trouble?" 

"Not exactly," Carlos protested, but TJ shook his head. 

"Carlos, she's almost a legal adult, and she's lived through more in the last few years than most people do in a lifetime. I think she can take care of herself." 

"I *know* she can," Carlos told him. "I just mean that sometimes we need our friends to tell us when we're making a mistake." 

He knew he'd worded that wrong when TJ's frown deepened. "No offense, man, but maybe you're a little too close to the situation. Ash and Andros can make their own decisions--it's not up to us to tell them what we think they should or shouldn't do." 

Carlos took a deep breath, letting TJ exit first as the lift doors opened. "It's not that," he told the other, as they headed for the Glider holding bay. "I'm happy for both of them--I just don't want Ashley to get hurt. That's all." 

TJ shot him a considering look. "You can't really think that Andros would do anything to hurt her." 

"Not intentionally," Carlos allowed. Inside the holding bay, he waited while TJ pulled a plate out of the Synthetron. "But I don't want to see her rushed into things she's not ready for, either." 

"By Andros?" TJ asked incredulously. 

"Look, Teej," Carlos said, not sure whether to be annoyed or amused, "Ashley is the closest thing I have to a sister, and her brother isn't here. It's practically my job to be suspicious of her boyfriend--I'm just trying to protect her. You'd do the same thing for Cassie." 

Removing his own breakfast from the Synthetron, Carlos didn't see the pensive look that crossed TJ's face. "Point," TJ agreed at last, as Carlos joined him at the table. "All right; I can see that. Just remember that in the end, it *is* her decision." 

"What's whose decision?" Andros asked, walking into the bay. 

Carlos and TJ exchanged glances. Carlos shook his head once, and TJ straightened uncomfortably. "Cassie's decision," he supplied, "whether she comes to breakfast or not." 

"Yeah," Carlos chimed in, and Andros gave them a strange look. 

"Why wouldn't she?" he wanted to know, punching buttons on the Synthetron. 

"Well..." Carlos shrugged, knowing how obvious they sounded but equally aware that they couldn't tell Andros they'd been talking about him behind his back, either. "You know how worried she's been about Phantom." 

TJ gave him a look that plainly said, "That was *weak*" but he ignored it. Luckily, Andros seemed distracted as he came to sit down. "How is Phantom?" he wanted to know. "What exactly happened to you guys, anyway?" 

"Hey," Ashley's voice interjected from the doorway. "Don't start this story without me." 

Carlos looked up in time to see Ashley and Cassie wander into the room. His wasn't the only eye drawn to them, either; he saw Andros's gaze snap across the room as soon as Ashley spoke. 

"Hey, Ash, Cassie," Carlos said, and TJ greeted them as well. Andros nodded in their direction, but Carlos didn't miss the slight smile Ashley gave him. 

"Morning," Cassie replied to the room at large, lounging against the wall while Ashley got something to eat from the Synthetron. "You wouldn't *believe* how hungry I am right now." 

"Me too!" Ashley seconded, heading over to the table. "I am so ready for breakfast." Carlos watched her claim the seat across from Andros, and noted with interest the smiles the two exchanged as she sat down. 

As soon as Cassie had joined them, and before anyone could launch into a tale of yesterday's adventures, TJ lifted his glass. "Everyone, before I forget--a toast. To us, and to being together again." 

Carlos raised his own glass, and saw Cassie nod vehemently. "To being together," she agreed, holding up her juice. 

"To us," Carlos echoed, and heard Andros and Ashley chime in. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw them clink glasses, and he smiled. Reaching over, he tapped his own glass against theirs, and Ashley laughed at him. Cassie joined in, and at the end of the table, TJ stood up with a grin and leaned across everyone's plates to make the group complete. 

"Not exactly back in time for lunch," Carlos said wryly, remembering Ashley's comment the morning before, and she laughed again, setting her glass down and giving him a friendly shove. 

"But back just the same," Cassie answered with a smile, "and that's what counts." 

"That and breakfast," TJ added, putting his glass down and diving into his food. 

Andros snorted. "At least *you* got dinner last night," he pointed out, picking up his fork. 

"And lunch," Ashley reminded them, between bites of her muffin. 

"What, are you going to fine us two meals?" Carlos kidded. 

TJ shot him a mock-glare over the rim of his glass. "Don't give them any ideas." 

The conversation lapsed as they all concentrated on eating, but it was an amiable silence, and Carlos found himself enjoying their companionship. It wasn't often that he stopped and thought about how incredible the bond they shared actually was, but times like yesterday made him remember how much they had to be thankful for. 

***

TJ finished eating first, and he took it upon himself to relate the happenings of the previous day. He had cause to regret it later, as everyone interrupted to tell their side as it came up, but at least the information got across. 

The rest of the team cleaned their plates as the story was told, and by the end they were all ready to head to the Bridge and assess the damage Divatox's army had caused. By common consent, they would not leave the safety of the sanctuary moon until the Megaship was repaired. 

"It's going to be tough to get external damage confirmed without scanners," Andros reminded them. "But we'll do what we can. Ash, why don't you get started on the starboard laser array." She gave him a quick nod, and he glanced around at the others. 

"Carlos, head belowdecks and check our hull integrity. I don't trust the electronic reports from that part of the ship--shielding is lower there, and with this damping field around us…" He trailed off, but no one needed him to elaborate. 

"TJ, Cassie, see what you can do in the engine room." Andros looked down at the datapad in his hand. "I'm going to try and locate the gateway that's supposed to be lurking around this asteroid." 

Ashley didn't head for the lift right away, and Carlos paused next to it. TJ and Cassie entered, and TJ held the door, looking at him questioningly. Carlos gave a slight shake of his head, and TJ let the door slide shut. 

"What was that about?" Cassie asked, as the lift hummed down to deck six. 

He hesitated. "I think Carlos just wanted to talk to Ashley about something." 

Her curious look increased in intensity. "Teej, you know something." 

"Why do you assume I know?" he exclaimed as the lift halted and the doors slid open. "It's none of my business!" 

Cassie's eyes narrowed. "*What's* none of your business?" 

He sighed, giving up. "Carlos and I saw Andros leaving Ashley's room this morning. *Early* this morning," he added, and he saw comprehension dawn in her expression. 

When she didn't have a reply, he stepped out of the lift, and they walked, still silent, toward the engine room. He glanced over at her as they entered, but a thoughtful look was the only indication that she was considering what he had said. 

Cassie paused just inside the door, folding her arms, and he waited for her to speak. At last, she inquired, "So what's Carlos's problem? They're old enough to make their own decisions." 

TJ shrugged. "He thinks Ashley needs someone watching out for her. I think he wants to make sure she's not being pressured into anything." 

"By *Andros*?" Cassie exclaimed, and TJ couldn't keep a grin off his face. 

"That was my reaction, too," he assured her, leaning against one of the cargo crates. "But you know how impossible it is to talk Carlos out of something once he's set his mind to it." 

Cassie nodded absently. After a moment, she asked, "Teej? What do you think?" 

He looked at her in surprise. "I thought you said they were old enough to make their own decisions." 

"That doesn't mean I think they're making the *right* decision," she answered slowly. "I just--don't know." 

"You don't have to," he reminded her. Then a thought occurred to him, and he shot a penetrating look in her direction. "You don't--do you?" 

She looked up, meeting his gaze with a frown. "What?" Her expression cleared seconds later, and she shook her head as she realized what he was asking. "No, I don't. I was just wondering." 

TJ sighed, shifting his weight against the crates. "Mostly, I think it's up to them. It's not my place to tell anyone how to live their life--I'm not them; I can't know what they know or how they feel." 

She nodded, but he knew he hadn't really answered the question. She had asked for his *opinion*. "Personally?" he said quietly, and Cassie glanced up again. "I'd wait. Again, maybe I'm not one to talk, but I believe that feelings like love take time, trust, and a lot of talking things out. I *don't* believe sex is something you do with someone you don't love, so I don't think it's something anyone should rush into." 

Cassie regarded him with the same thoughtful expression she'd had earlier, and he smiled, a little self-consciously. "Did that help any?" 

She nodded again. "Yeah, I think it did." She smiled back at him. "Thanks." 

"No problem," he responded, straightening. "But--" he pointed his index finger at her. "Don't tell Ashley we saw her and Andros this morning, okay? If they had wanted anyone to know, they wouldn't have come to breakfast separately." 

She drew an X over her heart. "Promise," she told him solemnly. "Let's get to work." 

They split up the diagnostics and started walking around the room in opposite directions. Nothing more was said about their two friends, and TJ let the readout on his datapad take over most of his conscious thought. 

There was surprisingly little damage, and after a while, he called over his shoulder, "You did a great job yesterday, Cassie. I think it was because of you that we still had hyperrush velocity when we headed for the sanctuary moon." 

There was no answer, and he turned around to seek her out. His eye finally caught her, on the other side of the room, almost hidden by the main engine core. She held her own datapad in front of her, but her head was tilted to one side at such an angle that she couldn't possibly be reading off of it. 

"Cassie?" TJ asked, making his way over to her. "Cass, are you okay?" 

She looked up suddenly at his approach, and he saw her eyes focus on him from somewhere far away. "Yeah," she said, giving her head a shake. "I was just…" 

"Daydreaming?" he suggested, smiling to show he was just teasing. 

Her return smile was weak, and his heart went out to her. "Cass--if you want to go up to the Medical bay, I'll cover for you here. There isn't as much damage as we expected; I think I can take care of this place." 

He could see the struggle inside her. She *wanted* to go, but at the same time, it went against everything they'd trained for to just take off in the middle of repair work. "It's okay," he promised. "I'll let you know if I need any help." 

"Oh, Teej," she said at last. Her eyes sparkled hopefully at him. "Would you, really?" 

"Of course," he said, squeezing her shoulder. "Go see if Phantom's doing any better." 

"Thanks so much," she said, and he could tell she meant it. "I owe you one, TJ." 

His shook his head. "You don't owe me a thing--that's what friends are all about. Now get out of here before I change my mind," he told her threateningly, and she wrinkled her nose at him. 

Tossing her datapad on a console, Cassie scrambled for the door. "Thank you!" she called again, waving from the doorway. 

He waved back, and she disappeared down the hall. He wouldn't see her for the rest of the morning. 

He did see Ashley, though--she came down more than an hour after Cassie left, wiping soot from her fingers. *Ashley is the only person I know who can get soot on her no matter what she's welding,* TJ thought, amused at her appearance. 

"Hey, TJ," she said, sitting on one of the crates stacked against the wall and bracing her elbows on her knees. "Can you redirect power from the starboard lasers for a while?" 

"Sure," he agreed, going over to auxiliary control bank. "Why didn't you just use your communicator?" 

She sighed. "The shielding's been disabled on the lower decks while Carlos patches a microfracture in the hull. The tools are okay so far, but the leakage from the damping field is wreaking havoc on my morpher." 

"More sensitive electronics," TJ offered, and she nodded. 

"That's what I figure. But Carlos better finish soon--I'm not sure how fast or even how far the damping field can affect our systems." 

"Will it be a problem?" TJ wanted to know, alarmed at the prospect of losing internal systems as well as external. 

Ashley shook her head. "Not as long as we get the shielding back up soon. Carlos knows he has a time limit; he'll let me know as soon as the shields are in place again." 

Reassured, TJ turned back to the console and started rerouting power. "How long do you want the lasers offline?" 

She shrugged. "Can I let you know when I'm done? I just need to test a few things." 

"Sure; no problem." Diverting the required energy flows, TJ tapped his access code into the panel and to authorize the changes. While the system reconfigured, he took a moment to study her. "Ash, are you okay? You look a little tired." 

She waved a hand dismissively. "I'm fine. It's probably just yesterday catching up with me." 

He drew in a breath, wondering whether he would make things worse by bringing this up. "Did you… Did Carlos talk to you?" 

Her head snapped up. "What do you know about that?" 

"Whoa." TJ held both hands out to his sides, surprised by the suddenness of her reaction. "Nothing; I was only asking. He mentioned earlier that he wanted to talk to you about something." 

To his surprise, a faint smile curved her lips. "You were the other person in the hallway this morning, weren't you." 

He tried his best to feign innocence, but she hadn't really been asking a question. "Carlos slipped up," Ashley explained, her tone colored by a hint of amusement. "He said 'we' saw Andros leave--I knew it had to be either you or Cassie, but I wasn't sure which." 

Lowering his hands, TJ admitted, "You got me. I apologize for spying on you; it was unintentional. I left my room just in time to see Andros standing in your doorway, and I thought it was better not to interrupt." 

Ashley rolled her eyes. "That's what Carlos said too. There was nothing to interrupt! You have every right to walk down the hallway, you know, no matter *who's* standing in it." 

"We just didn't want to embarrass you," TJ told her, and she stared at him for a moment. 

Finally, she nodded, the small smile on her face once more. "I'll take that the way I think it was intended," she said at last. "And thanks, by the way, for apologizing--Carlos didn't bother, and I think he heard more than you did." 

TJ raised an eyebrow. "I didn't hear anything. I came out just as Andros was leaving." 

She nodded again. "Sorry for jumping on you, TJ. Leftover frustration with Carlos, I guess--he's a little overprotective. I appreciate your consideration, even if it wasn't necessary." 

"Carlos meant well," TJ said, feeling the need to defend his friend. "He just doesn't want you to get hurt." 

"By Andros?!" Ashley demanded. "You know as well as I do that Andros would never hurt *anyone*. He's not like that." 

"No," TJ conceded. "But Carlos was afraid…" He trailed off, realizing suddenly that he was arguing the same things he had tried to talk his friend out of earlier. 

"TJ, nothing happened," Ashley said, leaning back against the wall with a tired smile on her face. "I couldn't sleep last night, and neither could Andros, so he came to find me. We sat down together to talk, and we fell asleep. That's it." 

*And Andros went back to his room to change when he woke up this morning,* TJ realized, unable to deny that he was relieved. 

Ashley was watching the expression on his face. "Andros is really important to me," she told him quietly. "He's not ready for--that kind of thing. And neither am I. We're still figuring out this relationship, but I promise you, sex isn't a part of it." 

TJ looked at her steadily. "It's not really any of my business either way," he told her. "But I have to say I'm glad to hear that, Ash. And I'm really happy for you," he added with a smile. 

"Thanks," she replied half-heartedly, pushing herself to her feet again. "Are the lasers deactivated?" 

"They're off main power," TJ confirmed, glancing down at his console. "But they still have residual energy from the last time they were used stored inside--remember to discharge it before you do anything drastic to them." 

"I *know* that," she told him, and he frowned, watching her turn carefully toward the door.

"Hey, Ash," he called after her. "You're sure you're all right? Maybe you should take a break for a little while." 

She lifted a hand to wave over her shoulder. "I'm fine, TJ. I'll let you know when I need starboard weapon systems back online." 

He waved back, unable to pin down the nagging feeling of doubt he felt as he watched her leave.

_fin_


	13. Ghost Stories

_Disclaimer: Saban wasn't a whole lot of help in providing background for this one, but the characters originate there nonetheless :)_

**Ghost Stories  
by Starhawk**

There was one person who, on waking, had not sought out the companionship of the others. Instead of joining in either breakfast or the repair effort, Phantom had made his way to the hangar bay.

He knew he had to leave. He didn't belong on the Megaship--he was no part of the Astro team. He was no part of any team, not anymore.

At the same time, he knew he *couldn't* leave. As long as Cassie was here, a voice inside insisted that he belonged here as well. And over the last few days, that voice had grown too loud to ignore.

So he had come to the hangar, not to flee the other Rangers, but to seek respite from his own emotions. Before meeting her, he had not truly felt anything in years. Now his feelings seemed to intensify daily, and he had hoped the familiar sight of his starfighter would grant him some peace.

As soon as he saw his ship, though, he knew it was not to be. The fighter was not where he had left it. It was settled on the other side of the bay, and although the stabilization was correct, its alignment was slightly off--characteristic of an inexperienced pilot.

He sighed, placing one foot on the port thruster and grabbing the edge of the reinforced canopy to haul himself up. TJ had not mentioned that it was his ship Cassie had taken in search of their teammates.

Seating himself on the metallic hull, just in front of the canopy, he wondered if that made him feel better or worse about the risk she had taken. His ship was a known quantity--swift and sound, it had always served him well. Its size made it more maneuverable than most deep space ships, and the EM cloak had gotten him out of numerous scrapes.

On the other hand, the shielding, while excellent for a fighter, was nothing compared to that of the Megaship. And though a hull breach on the Megaship could be contained, such an occurrence on a fighter meant near-instant death.

Phantom closed his eyes, resisting the temptation to ask DECA, yet again, for Cassie's location. *She is here, and she if safe,* he reminded himself. *That will have to be enough.*

Try as he might, however, he couldn't make himself believe it. The words did not alleviate the sense of dread that filled him when he thought of her threading her way through a hostile army alone. Nor did they convince him that everything would work out simply because they were together again.

"Hey," a soft voice intruded.

He flinched, and his eyes flew open. Cassie stood by the nose of his fighter, gazing inscrutably up at him.

There had been a time when no one could sneak up on him, and now it had happened twice in as many days. There was no arguing that emotions dulled the senses--maybe that explained why he had been an unstoppable fighter in the years between Elisia and Earth.

"I didn't mean to startle you," she apologized. "DECA told me you were down here, and I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"I am--" He caught himself just in time. "Closer to well," he finished, and was rewarded with her smile.

"I'm sorry..." She trailed off, gesturing with one hand, though whether at his ship or merely in apology, he couldn't tell. "I'm sorry I took your ship without asking--I never would have if I had had a choice, I promise you. But Ashley and Andros were getting farther away every minute we waited, and you weren't exactly in a position to grant or deny permission..."

"I could not deny you anything," he told her quietly, extending a hand to her. She took it without hesitation, stepping onto the thruster as he had done and letting him pull her the rest of the way up. "What amazes me is your ability to fly this ship at all."

Cassie settled herself beside him, pulling one knee up to her chest and wrapping her arms around it. "I've flown the Megaship before," she pointed out.

He had to smile at her complete innocence of what she had accomplished--on strength of will alone, apparently. "There is a good deal of difference between sitting at the helm of a battleship with an artificial intelligence that can run almost every system automatically, and piloting a fighter with only a navigation computer to help with calculations."

"But I had more than just the navcomp," she told him, turning her head to look at him. "I had you."

The way she said those last three words gave his heart pause, and he found himself staring at her for a long moment before he remembered to ask what she meant.

Cassie shrugged. "It must have been the link that you told me about. Somehow, I just knew how everything worked. Some of it I can put down to Megaship training, but you're right--there's no way I could have flown this ship without help."

He shook his head, baffled, and even more impressed with the courage that would drive her in the face of such an uncertain attempt. "That is not possible. You were light years from me. Empathy rarely works over such distances."

"Rarely?" she repeated. "Not never?"

Though she couldn't know it, behind his visor, her eyes had locked with his and he couldn't tear his gaze away. He couldn't tell her that the kind of communication she was talking about happened only between lovers, and ones that had been together far longer than the two of them had, at that. But neither could he lie. "No," he admitted. "Not never."

She took a deep breath. "In that case--what were you feeling so guilty about yesterday evening?"

His eyes widened. "TJ told you?"

"What!" she exclaimed. Her eyes narrowed. "What did TJ have to do with it?"

"You did not--" He stopped. "How did you know?"

Even as he asked, he couldn't help suspecting she had just told him the answer. Her next words confirmed it: "I just knew. I felt really guilty all of a sudden, for no reason--what did TJ *do*?"

He could see anger in her eyes, an expression so unlike her that it gave him pause. *She automatically assumes it was TJ's fault...* He wished he didn't have to tell her how wrong she was.

"He did nothing--it was me," Phantom told her quietly. "I... have not been where I was needed."

Cassie's eyes flashed. "Did TJ tell you that? You have duties, the same as us! I can't believe he would--"

"Cassie." She cut off as soon as he said her name. "TJ was referring to--" he tried not to stumble, but he heard the hesitation in his own voice despite his efforts, "my treatment of you."

Far from quieting, she grew more indignant on his behalf. "That's none of his business! And even if it were, there's nothing about the way you've treated me that he should be able to guilt-trip you for!" Shaking her head, she told him, "TJ's going to hear from me, I promise you."

He looked away. "You do not believe that," he said, knowing she had every right to be upset and almost wishing she would just say so.

Cassie looked startled. "What?"

"You do not believe that I've treated you fairly, either." *And you are right,* he added silently, not knowing what else to say.

"You have duties," she repeated firmly. She let her leg slide down to rest on the hull of his ship and leaned back on her hands, not looking at him. "I understand that you can't be around every day of the week."

He closed his eyes. "I could have been around more, Cassie. I am truly sorry... I thought that you would be better off without me."

He heard her draw breath, and he shook his head. "Let me finish." Opening his eyes, he glanced over at her, steeling his heart to make her the same offer he had made TJ yesterday. "I have not been a good friend to you, let alone anything more. I--"

Phantom swallowed hard. "I will love you forever," he confessed quietly. "But I have no illusions about our relationship, or lack thereof--I could not fault you for loving another." The words caught in his throat, but he forced himself to continue. "I... I relinquish any claim I might have had on your heart... and hope that you find happiness."

He had to stop before he choked on the sentences. Cassie was staring at him, a completely unreadable expression on her face. He looked away from her again, unable to face her as he waited on her judgement.

For almost a minute, there was no sound but the hum of the air recyclers and the soft sound of her breathing. He suffered through that pause, hope fading the longer she stayed silent.

"Saryn." The combination of her voice and his name jerked his head up, but he still couldn't meet her gaze. "You say you love me," Cassie told him, her tone as neutral as her expression. "But you're making decisions for me--I may not have your experience, but I know my own mind as well as you know yours. You have to stop thinking you can run my life and turn it into what you think it should be."

He was shocked into catching her eye. "That was never my intent--"

Her slight nod reassured him. "I didn't really think it was," she said, a sigh escaping from her lips. "But that's how it works out, when you take off for months at a time without a word. Maybe you were worried when I went out in your ship alone... but I promise you, that was nothing compared to knowing that you had left Hercuron on your own, too injured to stand, and then hearing nothing from you for months.

"It's not comforting to not know, Saryn. It's *torture*. I can't forget you just because I don't see you!" The heartfelt echo of his own feelings startled him as much as her repeated use of his name, and the tears shining in her eyes hurt him more than she could have guessed.

The urge to comfort her almost overcame his long-ingrained instinct to stay morphed when in company, and he felt his armor *shift* as he reached out to touch her face. When his gloved fingers touched her cheek, he couldn't help a frustrated sigh, feeling trapped inside his uniform for the first time.

She reached up to wrap his hand in both of hers. "Saryn, I *love* you..." Time slowed down as he heard those words, over and over in his mind, until he wasn't sure they were actually more than a figment of his imagination.

"It's not empathy," she was saying, unaware of the effect she had had on him. "I know what that feels like now, and I can put that out of my mind when I try. This is a part of me, and it won't go away. It's not something either of us can change--so please, stop trying."

He stared at her fingers, unquestioningly intertwined with his, then lifted his gaze to her face. "Cassie," he whispered. "Say that again."

"Stop trying?" she repeated uncertainly.

He shook his head, unable to force the words out past the lump in his throat.

A sudden, brilliant smile spread across her face. "I love you," she said quietly, laying one hand alongside his visor.

He closed his eyes, yearning to feel her soft touch on his skin. The Power within him fluctuated again, and this time, the shift was complete. Without warning, her hand was touching his face, and her fingers were warm as they wove through his.

He had to concentrate on breathing, then, as the ache in his chest returned. It was more bearable this morning, but demorphing had not been a conscious choice, and the unexpectedness of the pain bothered him more than the discomfort.

Then thoughts of the injury were gone again, and far more pleasant sensations took over as her hand moved along his jaw to cup his chin. He tried to ignore the feelings her touch sent coursing through him, the same way he ignored the pain--with far less success.

She gently tilted his head up, until he met her searching gaze. "Saryn?"

Her eyes were warm, but her voice held a hint of doubt. He almost wished he had maintained his armored form--this was not how she was used to seeing him, and it would be so easy to continue as her mysterious savior, idealized and perfect.

Easy in some ways, at least. But he was far from perfect, and Cassie didn't need a savior--she could take care of herself. And when he let himself admit it, he couldn't deny that *he* needed her like this...

So he tightened his fingers on hers, and made himself stare into her eyes without concealment or pretense. "Yes?" he asked hesitantly.

"I didn't ask you before," she said, uncertainty lingering in her tone, "if you--mind me calling you that?"

It was so far from what he had expected that he couldn't help gazing at her in surprise. Was it possible that his transition from morphed to unmorphed... did *not* bother her?

"I do not," he said at last, almost as surprised by his answer as he was by her question. "I... I like hearing you say it."

"Don't you ever hear it from anyone else?" she asked, still tentative.

He knew that was her way of asking if he would talk about himself, and he took a deep breath. "You are the first in more than three years to use that name," he said, not sure himself how much he could tell her.

"And... everyone else?" she prompted gently, when he paused.

"Most do not know it," he said, determined not to look away. "The few who do know respect my wishes and do not speak it aloud."

He could see her fighting her curiosity, and losing. "Why?" she asked finally, then lowered her hand from his face and looked away. "I'm sorry. You don't have to tell me."

"No," he assured her, struggling to find the words. "I *want* you to know... I am just not sure--" He paused to swallow. "I do not know if I can talk about it."

She folded one leg underneath her and turned a little more toward him. "I'll wait," she said simply.

His hand twitched in hers, and he looked down as her thumb stroked his fingers soothingly. "I do not use the name Saryn... because there is, for me, a good deal of pain associated with it."

Cassie shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry--I didn't know. Would you rather I didn't--"

"No!" Until now, he hadn't known himself why the sound of his name, coming from her, did not disturb him.

"Please," he begged, raising his eyes to hers again, "continue to use it. Each time I hear you say it, it erases a few more of the shadows from my past." *And there are plenty there,* he added silently.

"Anything for you," she said, echoing words he had never thought to hear returned. Then she smiled, and added, "Saryn."

He tried to smile back, but he couldn't help warning her, "You might not say that, if you knew who Saryn of Elisia was." *And what fate befell his team.*

She shook her head, placing her free hand over their joined ones. "You haven't been listening," she told him softly. "I love you. I love *you*, no matter what you call yourself: Saryn, or Phantom, or anything in between.

"Tell me what's so terrible," she pleaded, gazing up at him. "Tell me, and I'll prove to you that it's in the past."

He stared into her compassionate brown eyes, and wanted nothing more than to accept her offer. It hurt--badly--to remember, but he needed her to know who he was if they were ever to be honest with each other.

He knew that. But seconds later, he was still regarding her, no closer to knowing what to say than he had been before. Finally, he shook his head. "I do not know where to start," he told her helplessly.

She reached out, running her fingers across his forehead and smoothing his hair away from his face. "And I don't know what questions to ask," she said, her voice soft and sympathetic.

Her caress comforted him, and he leaned into it, letting his eyes slide shut while he tried to think of some way to explain. She seemed content to wait, and he let himself enjoy the feel of her fingers as she played with his hair.

"I think," Cassie said suddenly, her tone now quietly amused, "that you should consider a haircut."

He smiled a little as her amusement washed over him. "Or," she added as an afterthought, "is that not done on Elisia?"

Her innocent question evoked more memories than he cared to admit. "Elisia was a frontier world," he replied softly, the dusty plains and unending sky of his childhood springing into sharp relief against his eyelids. "Almost everyone there was what you would call a terraformer... or the child of a terraformer. Appearances were not a source of great concern."

"'Was'?" she murmured, and he flinched.

"It was one of the first to come under the attack of Dark Spectre, when he claimed his title as Monarch of all evil three and a half years ago. He wanted to get to the heart of the League--but he had to go through us to do it."

"And he did," Cassie surmised, keeping her voice very low.

Opening his eyes at last, he pulled away to gaze, without seeing, across the barren deck of the hangar bay. "He did."

Cassie was silent for a moment. "What about your Ranger team?"

He didn't want to be short with her, but he couldn't keep the harshness out of his voice. "They were not enough."

"But--" Her immediate protest did not surprise him. She and her friends had never failed; how could they understand? "You couldn't have been alone. There must have been others who could help!"

*The enigmatic ally who shows up just when he's needed?* he wondered bitterly, but he didn't say it. 

"We were not alone," he replied instead. "Elisia was a protectorate of Eltare, and help arrived within hours. But the onslaught was immense, beyond the scope of any attack in generations, and they were too late. The Rangers had been defeated."

He heard Cassie gasp, but did not look in her direction. "Entire settlements lay in ruin by the time the Eltarans arrived," he continued, fighting to keep the images of destruction from taking over his sight. "Without the Rangers to rally them, the people were unorganized and dispirited. But they managed to hold out, somehow, and the combined strength of Eltare, Elisia, and several other frontier worlds was enough to drive Dark Spectre's forces back."

"And--" Cassie hesitated, as though she didn't really want to ask, but had to. "The Rangers? Did they--were they... killed?"

He squeezed his eyes shut. "All but one."

Her sharp intake of breath reached him over the sudden ringing in his ears as he tried to shut out the horrors of that day. "The Red Ranger," he muttered. "Their leader... the one who was supposed to guide them and defend them with his life--he survived."

Cassie drew their joined hands closer to her, as though she could shelter him from the memories that haunted him. "It wasn't his fault," she said softly.

"It was," he insisted, staring at the spartan deck and seeing wreckage and debris, flames leaping to consume the wind... "He should have been able to save them. They were his team, his *life*..."

He couldn't continue. He had never given grief free reign, and he was not about to start now. *Another place,* he reminded himself, *another time. It is not now; it has no sway over me...*

As often as he had repeated those words to himself, they had never fully banished the memories. The ghosts of long-dead friends always returned to haunt him in the night, when his defenses were down and were no duties to take his mind from their loss.

Cassie put her other hand on his arm. "Saryn," she whispered, and the single word brought the tears he had never shed to his eyes.

Wrenching his arm away, he turned his head further to hide his expression from her. "*Saryn* was an inexperienced idealist," he said roughly. "A 'rising star in frontier politics', they said. Trained in the ancient way of the warrior, with a natural knack for diplomacy--a wonderful contradiction, caught everyone's attention and surprised no one when he was asked to join his homeworld's Ranger team..."

The words spilled out of him, uncontrollable and unstoppable, and to his horror, he felt a tear slide down his cheek. Cassie's hand was back on his arm, and he knew she had noticed the tremor in his voice. He didn't resist when she scooted closer, wrapping an arm around his shoulders but saying nothing to interrupt.

"I--Saryn led them, for two years," he whispered, staring out at the bay and back into the past. "They grew close, as every team does, became a unit, a family--invincible. No one could defeat them, and their leader's name became known for his tactical skills, as well as his insight into government.

"Then Dark Spectre came." He had no idea why he was telling her this; it was far more than she had asked for, but he couldn't seem to stop. "The Rangers fought as they always did--valiantly, together, and until the end... only this time, it was their end."

He choked on the words, and another tear slipped past his tightly controlled guard. It landed on her fingers as she reached around to turn his head back toward her. Ashamed though he was to be falling apart like this, he let her do it, unable to refuse what comfort she offered.

"The Blue Ranger fell first," he said, voice hoarse and hands shaking as he remembered the explosion that had destroyed any hope of seeing his best friend again. He had never been so full of rage... striking out in blind fury was no way to keep yourself alive, but he had managed to take a good number of them down with him before-- 

His voice dropped to near-inaudibility as he admitted, "The Red Ranger was next."

Running her fingers gently across his face, she wiped another tear away. He realized distantly that her arm was still draped over his shoulder, even though she was now facing him, and their position was inarguably compromising should anyone happen to come looking for them. But her support was all he had--he didn't know what he would do if she turned away from him after this story.

"I didn't die," he whispered, staring into her eyes but unable to interpret what he saw there. "They knew it--it would have been better for them if I had."

She shook her head, slowly, as though addressing a small child. "That isn't true," she murmured. "You know it's not true."

"But it is," he answered, his gaze shifting to a point past her left shoulder, and from there, three and a half years into the past and more. "I'm told Jenna fell defending me... She died for the chance that I could recover from my wounds and live again--" 

He broke off, the words strangled in his throat as an image of a sprightly girl invaded his sight, blonde hair flying and pink bandana tied around her wrist as she ran through the swinging double doors, late for practice again... 

"She's gone," he said hopelessly, refocusing on the face in front of him and ignoring the tears that now streamed freely down his face. "They were all gone when I woke up. And there was nothing I could do..." 

"Shh," Cassie whispered, her own eyes shining with unshed tears. She put a hand on his other shoulder and pulled him close. "They would have wanted you to go on," she said quietly. 

He leaned into her embrace, letting her arms close around him and protect him from the past. He rested his head on her shoulder, and he cried as he had not cried in a long time.

He grieved for the lives lost in that initial onslaught on the frontier, and he grieved for the relatives of the dead who had been left to pick up the pieces and rebuild as best they could. He grieved for Elisia, which *had* been rebuilt, its people rallied, and a new Ranger team formed, only to fall with Eltare three years later. But most of all he grieved for the passing of four kindred spirits, four deaths that had left him all alone in the universe. 

Almost all alone. Cassie held him while he cried for the first time in years, and she passed no judgement. Her forgiveness seeped into him, like a healing balm on his injured soul, and he knew even in his sorrow that he would never be able to repay the gift she gave him now by her simple presence. 

He wasn't sure how long he stayed there, clinging to her, but she never complained. After what seemed like an eternity, the tears slowed. The sadness did not abate, but he couldn't cry forever--the tears simply stopped coming. 

She must have noticed as he started to calm, but she did not loosen her embrace until he tried to straighten up. Drawing back, he found he could not meet her gaze. She must think the worst of him now... 

"Saryn..." The name reverberated through the years, and for an instant, he saw them all again. Lyris, Jenna, Timmin and Kris surrounded him once more, as they had that last carefree day at the cliffs-- 

A gentle tap on his chin made him look up, and the vision dissolved. Cassie tucked her hand into the sleeve of her uniform and brushed the smooth fabric across his face. "You did the best you could," she murmured, drying his tears carefully and pushing his hair away from his eyes again. "No one could ask anything more." 

"It wasn't enough," he whispered miserably. 

"That's survivor guilt," she told him, letting her hand come to rest on his face. "Not rational thinking. There was nothing more you could have done. You can't blame yourself for their deaths... or for living, when they didn't." 

"That's what they told me," he said, staring without seeing into her eyes. "They tried everything... to make me want to live again, after what happened." 

"Who?" she asked softly, her other hand rubbing his shoulder. 

He shivered suddenly, and she abandoned her caresses to pull him into a fierce hug. "It's all right," she breathed in his ear. "Everything's going to be all right." 

Her promise, empty though it was, reassured him. "The Eltarans," he replied at last, arms still wrapped around her. He was determined to get through this story, if only to hear her tell him everything was all right again. 

"The Eltaran medical facilities were better than anything on the frontier. I was transported there from Elisia... but I am told no one expected me to survive the night." 

This time, he felt *her* tremble, and his arms tightened around her as his protective instincts kicked in. "I almost didn't," he admitted, remembering the lights that had blazed in the intensive care unit all night long. 

He had been unconscious, but somehow he had known--had been able to sense what was going on. He had witnessed the frantic activity with only a mild sort of interest, had heard and not cared when the biomonitor flatlined. 

Looking back, that dispassionate night troubled him deeply. At the time, he had truly wanted to die. Now, though, with Cassie here in his arms, comforting and caring for him, he knew he could never treat his life with such casual disregard again. 

Pressed up against his chest, Cassie murmured, "What happened?" 

"The Eltaran Ranger who found me saved my life," he answered, seeing again the blur of blue that had refused to leave his bedside until he opened his eyes. 

"She stayed with me the entire night, ordering the doctors around as though they were children. And when my biomonitor stopped beeping, and they tried and failed to bring me back, it was her idea to use my Power crystal." 

"Your ruby?" Cassie asked incredulously, drawing back a little to look at him. 

He nodded. "The Power kept me alive when all I wanted was to give up. I am sure you know how stubborn it can be in that respect." 

She smiled faintly. "I've noticed... I'm glad it was enough to keep you here." 

"I am as well," he murmured, lifting one hand to stroke her face. "But it only kept me alive --it did not restore my will to stay that way. I was placed under suicide watch, and was not allowed to be separated from my Power crystal. I healed, eventually--dependent on my ruby." 

"What changed?" she asked quietly. 

He felt a flicker of surprise. "That has *not* changed," he reminded her. 

Cassie shook her head. "I mean, what made you want to live again?" 

The question made him hesitate, but she had heard the rest of the story. *Is this so much more personal?* he wondered. It did, in a way, involve her... 

"I saw my friends," he told her, searching her expression for a reaction. "All four of them--they were in a dream I had, some time after the attack." 

"More than a dream?" Cassie guessed, regarding him just as intently. 

He nodded slowly. "I believe it was." 

He fell silent for a moment, relieved that she had not scoffed at the idea but not certain how to continue. She waited patiently, bracing her arm against the hull and cocking her head at him. 

"They seemed... very much as they always had," he said at last, seeing the group again in his mind's eye. The backdrop had been the cliffs where they had gone windriding the day before the attack, and he had thought it an appropriate metaphor for the obstacle that now stood between them. "Except--they had a *knowing* about them, a steadiness that they had never had in life." 

"A kind of peace," Cassie supplied, and he looked at her in surprise. 

"That's exactly it. They were not... sorry for what had happened," he said, remembering the camaraderie and the whisper of laughter that had lingered in the air about them, even as serious as they had been. "The fire that had animated our team still burned within them--and it made me realize that that spark was gone from me." 

Using her free hand to grasp his, Cassie brought his focus back to the present. "Not anymore," she told him, with quiet assurance. 

He turned his hand over in hers and squeezed her fingers. "Perhaps not," he admitted, gazing into her eyes and seeing there what he had been lacking. "Not since I met you. 

"Then, all I wanted was to join them. But you were right, earlier, when you said they would have wanted me to go on. They--" he swallowed, and she sat up, reaching to touch his face.

He caught her hand and brought it to his lips. "I am all right," he promised, and when she smiled, it was the truth. 

"They would not let me come with them," he went on, drawing in a deep breath. He wasn't sure how she would respond to this part. "Jenna told me that somewhere, you were waiting for me, and if I deserted you, she would never forgive me." 

Cassie started, and he squeezed her hands reassuringly. "She did not know you specifically, but she could see, somehow, the person I would be leaving behind if I were to follow my teammates from this life. She… wouldn't let me do it." 

She stared at him for a moment, and he wondered suddenly if she could tell from the way he spoke what he and Jenna had been to each other--and if it bothered her. But before he could say anything, she had freed one of her hands and laid her fingers across his lips, as though she knew what he was about to tell her and didn't want to hear it. 

"I'll be grateful to Jenna forever," she told him softly, "for giving me the chance to know you. I wish I could have met her." 

"So do I," he agreed, not looking away from her. "You would have liked them all very much." 

"They were your friends--how could I not?" she asked, her expression serious. 

He smiled, inadvertently, at her solemn expression. "Thank you," he whispered, unable to resist the temptation to mimic her gesture. 

He felt her lips curve under her fingers, and as he moved his hand to stroke her hair, she asked, "What for?" 

"For… everything," he told her, wanting her to understand how much she meant to him but knowing he couldn't put it into words. "For listening, just now, but more than that--for giving me hope." That was as close as he could come, and he only prayed she understood. 

"You've done that for me, too," she answered softly. "You've always been my hope." 

*Hope that I never fulfilled,* he realized with regret, remembering TJ's words: *"I'm talking about *you*, and what you mean to Cassie... you haven't exactly made your presence felt."* 

"I wish," he began hesitantly, still running his fingers through her hair, "that I could be more than just your hope." 

"I'm not the one who's stopping you," she said, staring steadily back at him. 

*Please mean what I think you mean by that,* he asked silently. Sliding his hand behind her head, he leaned forward, watching her face for a reaction. When her eyes fluttered closed, he smiled a little and kissed her, as gently as he could. 

Not gently enough--he felt his pulse speed up even before their lips touched--but he wasn't really in trouble until he felt her arms snake around his neck and pull him closer. He didn't resist, but the way she returned his kiss sent a tremor through his entire body. 

Cassie broke away, looking at him in consternation. "I'm sorry," she breathed, her eyes wide. "I didn't mean to do that… You're still upset; I didn't mean to take advantage…" 

He stared at her, lips quirking at the thought of *her* taking advantage of *him*. "It is not that," he assured her, wondering whether she had any idea what effect she had on him. "I just--" *I can't control myself when I touch you,* he thought, unbidden, but knew he couldn't tell her that. 

"Just what?" Cassie asked softly. 

He shook his head. "I don't--" 

He cut off as the lights went out, and the emergency lighting flooded into the hangar bay in their place. The bay doors slid shut with a grinding noise and a loud clang, and they both jumped. 

Immediately on alert, he turned to Cassie for an explanation, but she seemed as startled as he. "DECA," she demanded of the air, "What's going on?" 

"A hull breach has occurred," the computer's calm voice replied. "Bulkheads are being sealed throughout the Megaship." 

Without warning, the entire ship rocked violently, and Cassie was thrown against him. He put his arms around her automatically, steadying them both, and glared in the direction of DECA's nearest camera. "That was *not* a hull breach." 

"The Megaship is under attack," DECA replied, and Cassie gasped. 

"That's not possible," she insisted, her voice somewhat muffled as she spoke into his chest. "We're still inside the damping field." 

"Someone has found a way to get around that," he said grimly, as the ship shook again. This time they were almost knocked off the hull of his fighter. The jerking motion was accompanied by a high-pitched whine that made the deck vibrate for the half-second it was audible, and the horrifying sound of escaping atmosphere followed. 

"Come on!" Cassie slithered away from him across the hull and dropped gracefully to the floor. He lunged after her, not wanting her out of his sight for a second. 

"Hull breach on deck six," DECA announced. "The hangar bay has been compromised. This area must be evacuated immediately." 

"No kidding," Cassie answered sharply, as they raced across the bay. He followed without question, trusting her judgement and knowledge of the Megaship. 

She skidded to a halt next to some sort of access hatch, and he tried to catch his breath. Normally a run like that would have been nothing, but the injury he had sustained the day before had not completely healed, and his chest throbbed with every breath. 

He tried to slow his breathing, taking deeper breaths instead of sharp, shallow ones, but his lungs would not cooperate. They wanted oxygen, and they wanted it now--which left him with a burning feeling in his chest that was spreading steadily outward. 

The hatch slid open, and Cassie motioned for him to go first. He shook his head, and she glared at him. "This is no time for chivalry!" She had to shout to be heard, and he realized how much the air had thinned in just the past few seconds--the breach must be more serious than he had thought. 

*This is exactly the time for chivalry,* he thought, but he didn't say so. Instead, he just took hold of her arms and pushed her through the opening, following himself a second later. 

She hit the control pad next to the hatch as soon as he was through, and the portal slammed shut. The hissing click that sounded in the tiny area as soon as it snapped closed told him that there would be no opening that door again, at least not until the breach on the other side was repaired. 

Cassie turned on him as soon as the hatch had closed. "What did you think you were doing? Another few seconds, and that hatch would have sealed automatically!" 

*All the more reason for you to be on the right side of it,* he thought, but he found he couldn't speak. The burning in his chest was subsiding to a dull ache as he caught his breath, but it still throbbed painfully with every inhalation. 

"You're hurt." Cassie was instantly at his side, her anger forgotten. "Let me see." 

He shook his head, trying to get enough air to speak. "It is--the same injury," he panted, mustering a small smile. "You are very anxious--" Pausing for breath, he continued, "For me to… take my shirt off." 

She blushed, and he reflected that the pain was worth it to see her like that. "Teasing," he managed to get out, reaching to stroke her hand. 

"I'll show you teasing," she muttered, snatching her hand away. Taking his head in both hands, she kissed him with the same tenderness he had tried to use on her before--only she succeeded, leaving him aching for more. 

"You win," he admitted breathlessly, keeping himself from reaching for her by sheer force of will. 

Her communicator beeped before she could answer, and he had to banish the flash of disappointment that the noise caused. *Not really alone,* he thought, watching her respond to the hail without a second thought. 

"Cassie!" Andros's voice invaded the cramped access tunnel. "Are you all right? Where are you? DECA says you were in the hangar bay when the hull breached, but she can't get a fix on you anymore." 

It made him feel a little better when she had to take a few deep breaths before answering, but that might just have been the lingering effects of their sprint across the hangar bay. "Phantom and I are in the starboard access tunnel off the hangar bay," she reported. "We made it out just ahead of the bulkhead seals--Andros, *what* is going on?" 

There was a pause, then his voice came back, "We're not sure. There was a hull breach belowdecks, and somehow the fleet outside the damping field got a target lock on us--one of the two shots that hit us caused the hangar breach." 

Cassie caught her breath. "The others?" 

"TJ's in the engine room," Andros answered. The pause was longer this time, and there was worry in his tone as he told her, "We can't reach Ashley or Carlos."

_fin_


	14. Visions

_Disclaimer: There are people who own the rights to PR, but I am not one of them. I didn't create the characters, but I sure have fun messing with their minds._

**Visions  
by Starhawk**

"Andros; I've got more bad news."TJ's voice, routed through the Megaship's onboard comm system, sounded as grim as Andros felt. It did, however, lack the edge of panic that was creeping into the Red Ranger's thoughts the longer DECA was silent, and for that he was grateful. His fear for Ashley's safety would cloud his judgement if he wasn't careful, and TJ's calm strength had been the team's anchor in the past.

"Let's hear it." Andros boosted the gain on his morpher so Cassie and Phantom would be able to listen as well.

"I can't get an accurate report on the condition of our port thruster," TJ told them. "DECA's maintenance sensors must have been knocked out in that part of the ship by that first hit we took. It's possible that the thruster is fine, but there's no way to know until we try to use it."

Before Andros could answer, DECA broke in with the news he had been waiting for. "I have a visual on Carlos."

"Show me," Andros ordered. The forward viewscreen lit up with an image of his black-clad teammate, sprawled across the metal deck, unmoving and apparently unconscious.

"Andros?" Cassie's voice asked.

"DECA's found Carlos," Andros said, punching a few buttons on the console so the image would be relayed to TJ as well. "He's unconscious, but it looks like he's breathing. I can't see any sign of injury."

"No," TJ agreed from the engine room. "He looks fine--but the decompression belowdecks must have been explosive. I'm betting the bulkheads just couldn't seal fast enough to prevent oxygen deprivation."

"The area is being repressurized now," DECA informed them. "Carlos should recover momentarily."

"What about Ashley?" Andros asked, trying not to let the tension show in his voice.

"Ashley's last reported location is concurrent with the first hull breach," DECA replied. "The only camera in that location went dark four minutes ago."

*Right when the hull breached,* Andros thought, and the panic again tried to push all rational focus aside. *How could I have let her go down there? *I* should have been the one working belowdecks--if only we had waited until we were on the other side of the gateway to perform repairs...*

He slammed his fist down on the console, angry with himself and terrified for her all at the same time. TJ's voice brought him back to the task at hand with a sharp, "Chill, Andros. We're all worried, but taking it out on the Megaship isn't going to help."

"TJ's right," Cassie put in. "Right now we have to concentrate on securing the ship, and then we can help Carlos and Ashley."

"What is the status of the Megaship now?" Phantom's voice inquired, over Cassie's communicator.

Andros took a deep breath, letting their strength bolster his. "We've got multiple hull breaches, and possible damage to the port thruster."

"The bulkheads on the main decks can be raised without too much trouble," TJ added, "but we're going to have to land somewhere with an atmosphere before we can get to Carlos and Ashley."

"We're in the gateway now," Andros said, as it occurred to him that Cassie and Phantom would not know how they had escaped the previous attack. "I know enough to get us through it, but not enough to have any idea where we'll end up." He paused. "Phantom?"

"I have never navigated a gateway before," Phantom answered, and suddenly Andros wondered if the other Ranger's voice sounded less distorted than usual, or if it was only his imagination. "You know more about it than I."

Andros nodded, though he knew Phantom couldn't see it. "We'll do our best. You and Cassie will have to stay where you are--the access tunnels around the hangar bay will have been sealed off from the rest of the ship as soon as a vacuum was detected in the hangar."

There was a pause, and then he heard Cassie's voice, as if from a distance. "No…"

Andros frowned. "No?"

"No, sorry, Andros," Cassie said, sounding flustered. "I didn't mean you."

"Will you be all right down there?" TJ asked from the engine room.

"Of course," Cassie assured him a moment later. "Just keep us informed, okay?"

"We will," Andros promised, glancing toward the tactical monitor. It was showing a singularly uninformative field of static right now, as the scanners were unable to resolve the essence of the gateway surrounding them into any sort of useful information.

Closing his morpher, he asked TJ, "Can you get a distance estimate from the engine readouts?"

He heard TJ's exasperated sigh. "According to this information, we're not moving at all. The engines went offline as soon as we entered the gateway, and nothing I do seems to have any effect."

"It won't," Andros warned. "From what I've heard about gateways, we're not actually travelling in realspace. We're in some sort of extraspace, an interdimensional bridge between two points in our own dimension."

He could practically hear TJ raise his eyebrow. "And this has to do with the engines because...?"

"There's no fuel consumption," Andros told him, entering navigation commands despite the apparent lack of response from the Megaship. "All the power comes from the gateway itself."

"Course adjustment confirmed," DECA announced. So the computer, at least, recognized a difference in their flight pattern--hopefully, that meant the nav controls were still sending and receiving reliable information.

"I'm going to try bringing us out of the gateway," Andros told the comm panel, more to alert TJ than because he wanted any assistance. *He* barely knew what he was doing; he certainly didn't expect TJ to have a clue.

There was a pause, while Andros concentrated on piloting a powerless ship. Suddenly, TJ said, "I thought these gateway trips took no time at all."

"They do, if you know what you're doing," Andros muttered, seeing the tactical screen waver and flash as the scanners detected realspace on the other side of the gateway.

That was the only warning he had before the world went white around him.

***

Cassie heard the click as Andros cut off their communication from the other end, but she couldn't look away from Phantom--*Saryn*, her brain reminded her, but sometimes it was hard to think of him that way. Now was one of those times, with his hand frozen inches from the ruby that hung around his neck and his eyes inscrutable as he stared back at her.

"I'm sorry," she said at last, wanting to lower her gaze but afraid that if she did he would morph while she wasn't watching. "I don't have any right to ask that of you."

He looked at her a moment longer, then, slowly, lowered his hand. "You have every right, my love," he told her quietly, and the words brought unexpected tears to her eyes.

Reaching out to stroke her face, he added, "If it is what you wish, I will remain unmorphed."

She tilted her head, leaning into his touch. "You never told me why you stay morphed all the time," she murmured, hoping she wasn't violating some personal code with her comment.

"It was a decision made some time after the first attack on Elisia," he said softly, leaving his hand against her cheek. "I did not plan to rejoin the Rangers there, but I could not live without my crystal, so it seemed I was meant to do some good with it yet. I morphed for the first time two months after my team was lost... and found that my uniform had changed.

"The fact that I was no longer recognizable as an Elisian Ranger gave me the perfect opportunity to leave the life I had known behind, and I took it." His voice this time was steady, and she wondered if he was distancing himself from the memories, or if he was just too drained after the story he'd told earlier to feel anything.

"No one knows who you are," Cassie guessed, watching his eyes for a reaction.

"A few on Eltare know." His expression went distant, and she wondered what he was seeing. "But as far as Elisia is concerned, Saryn vanished soon after the attack that destroyed his team and was never heard from again."

"And the Phantom Ranger is a mystery no one can solve," Cassie finished, her tone low as she realized what a gift he had given her by telling her about his past.

"You have managed," he answered, his gaze returning from wherever it had been. He smiled at her, and she thought she had never seen a more beautiful sight.

Colorless sparkles flooded her vision, and a wave of white obscured everything.

***

TJ stared across the room that housed what was normally the driving force behind the Megaship's strength. Now though, in the shadows created by the dimmer than normal emergency lighting, the pale, unflickering luminescence of engines on standby was all too obvious.

"I thought these gateway trips took no time at all," TJ remarked abruptly, ready to be out of this bizarre extraspace. He didn't trust power that came from the medium through which they were traveling half as much as the Megaship's own engine core.

Andros's reply was not very comforting, either. "They do, if you know what you're doing."

TJ opened his mouth to ask exactly what Andros's experience with gateways consisted of--and his surroundings went snowy white, obscured by an impenetrable curtain of blankness.

*flash*

There was a roaring in his ears; the boisterous cheers of a crowd that had just seen their home team win the championship. The familiar sight of his old school's baseball diamond stretched out around him, and he laughed aloud, yanking his cap off his head and throwing it up into a clear blue sky.

*Old school?* his mind wondered. He had never gone anywhere but Sanborn Regional High--and this was why. The dream he had worked for three long years to achieve had finally become reality, thanks to the best coach he could ever have asked for, and he owed it all to this team and the man who ran it.

Someone grabbed his arm, and before he realized what was happening, he felt his teammates lifting him into the air. He couldn't stop laughing--he thought that if he did, he might cry. He and his friends would go down in SR history as the first team to win the championship since the baseball program had taken off in this little town ten years ago, and his performance in this game would cement his place as the most sought-after baseball player among college recruiters.

A glint of sunlight on blond hair caught his eye among the cheering fans in the first row of bleachers, and he started to struggle against the hands supporting him. "Let me down!" he shouted over the yells of his teammates, and they obligingly lowered him to the ground.

He shoved through the crush of enthusiastic players, returning high-fives and ducking good-natured slaps on the back as he fought his way toward the edge of the field. He escaped the team and jogged across the sand that surrounded home base, searching for the one face that would make all this worthwhile.

The Events Staff looked official enough, posted at both corners of each section of bleachers, and they had managed to keep fans from flooding out onto the field--barely. But one of them saw Tessa and looked the other way while the petite girl slipped under the yellow tape that marked the edge of the playing area and raced across the grass toward him.

He caught her up in his arms, swinging her around as she laughed. Setting her down at last, he hugged her tightly, glad she had been able to make time in her crazy schedule to see him play.

"Congratulations, TJ," she said at last, pulling away to grin up at him. "How does it feel to have single-handedly carried the Tigers to victory?"

He laughed at her. She knew as well as he that it had been a team effort, with no "carrying" involved. He tousled her hair affectionately, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, they turned to walk back across the field. "Oh, my," Tessa gasped, as she caught sight of the trophy even now being presented to the team's coach. "What will you find to do with that monstrosity?"

"You're the only trophy I need," he told her with a smile, and she giggled.

"Don't let your teammates hear that. They might insist your name be taken off the plaque on the bottom."

He grinned. "That's all right. You know what this means, don't you?"

She turned inquiring eyes toward him, and he tapped her nose. "Those recruiters will be beating down my door."

Her eyes twinkled. "Don't think you'll get away that easily. My grades are good enough that I can follow you anywhere you go."

"No way," he objected, the smile softening his words. "Athletes come along every day--your education is more important than my games, and I've already told you I'm not going to make a career out of this. You just tell me where you want to go, and that's the school I'll play for."

"Oh, TJ," she sighed, a contented expression on her face. The promise ring on her left hand glittered as she draped her arms around him, smiling. "Never leave me."

"Never," he promised, leaning down to kiss her...

*flash*

TJ's eyes snapped open as the feel of Tessa's arms around him disappeared, and he found himself once more in the engine room of the Megaship. He shivered in the abrupt strangeness of the confined space, the ghostly illumination a poor substitute for the grassy, sunlit fields of Earth--the coolness of the air a poor replacement for Tessa's warmth.

*What the *hell* was that?* he demanded silently, of no one in particular. Not prone to swearing, his language was more a reaction to the shock of the vision than anything else. 

If it *had* been a vision... For the few minutes it had lasted, he would have sworn it was as real as the place he found himself now.

His hands were shaking as he reached for the comm panel, and he drew in a deep breath, trying to forget the sparkle of her ring and the sound of her words. *Never leave me...* How could he keep such a promise to someone he'd never met?

"Andros?" he asked, his voice catching. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Andros? What in the name of all that's good just happened?"

***

*flash*

Andros stood alone, one foot on the stone circle that surrounded the town fountain. He stared into the plume of tumbling water, feeling the sun on his back and hearing the delighted shrieks of children playing tag on the other side of the commons. The day was so perfect it was almost unbelievable, coming as it did on the end of a weeklong rainstorm.

"Hey, Andros!"

He felt a smile spread across his face at the sound of his friend's voice. It was a cocky tone that he hadn't heard in far too long, and he turned around to make sure his ears weren't deceiving him.

Sure enough, there was Zhane, confident stride carrying him briskly across the stone mosaic that radiated outward from the fountain. He raised a hand when he saw Andros turn, a grin on his face, and Andros waved back.

*What am I thinking?* he wondered, greeting his best friend with the handshake they had perfected years ago. *I just saw Zhane this morning, after breakfast--even for his ego, that's not long at all.*

"How did the exam go?" Andros asked, knowing his friend had been dreading the physics test that had been scheduled for this morning.

Zhane made a face. "Hey, it's over now, right?" He slapped Andros on the back. "I'm dragging Kerone to the park for a study break--come with us?"

Tempted, Andros hesitated. "No," he said at last. "You two go ahead. I have a history exam tomorrow, and you know how bad I am with that stuff."

"Andros," Zhane said patiently, as though explaining to a small child. "Let me define the phrase 'study break' for you: a time in which you stop this incessant cramming and enjoy life for a little while. They're only exams, after all."

The truth was that Andros thought his sister would want a little time alone with his friend. Between training and final exams, they'd all been too busy for a social life lately, and he didn't want to get in the way of what few moments they could find to spend together.

Zhane must have taken his silence as refusal, for he sighed. "Wait here. I'm going to go get Kerone to talk you into it."

Andros opened his mouth to protest, but Zhane had already taken off across the smooth stones. Faintly, Andros could hear his friend calling mentally for Kerone. The call was soft to Andros's mind, but to Kerone it must have been deafening.

She appeared almost immediately from one of the science buildings on the other side of the commons, short blond hair shining in the noonday light and colored blouse billowing in the breeze. Andros smiled fondly at the sight, and watched Zhane wrap her in a bear hug.

A distant memory tugged at his heart then, and a face swam before his eyes. The image of another girl in yellow teased his thoughts, with a smile to warm the coldest day and an expression of heartbreaking tenderness as she gazed back at him from somewhere far away...

"Andros?" Kerone's voice, suddenly only a little way away, startled him out of his reverie. She looked concerned, and Zhane was frowning.

"Are you all right?" Zhane wanted to know, standing at her side, and Andros was touched by their worry.

"I'm fine," he assured them with a smile, banishing thoughts of the strange girl from his mind. "Really; just worried about tomorrow's exam."

*That's the only good thing about finals,* he reflected wryly, watching sympathy dawn on their faces. *Everything can be excused by blaming it on stress.*

"In that case, you *definitely* need a study break," Kerone said firmly, linking one arm through his in a move that triggered another feeling of déjà vu.

He shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. Zhane took it as protest, and grabbed his other arm. "You can't say no to both of us," he informed Andros cheerfully. "You're coming, and there's nothing you can do about it."

Kerone laughed, and the gentle sound soothed him with its familiarity. "Come on, brother mine," she said, pulling him away from the fountain. Zhane helped, and Andros found himself grinning as they dragged him toward the park. It was good to have friends like these...

*flash*

Andros jerked away from the console as though he'd been burned, staring at the tactical screen--now showing realspace outside the Megaship--in complete shock. The coordinate readout in front of him displayed their location in bright red numbers, but he didn't even notice.

"Ashley," Andros whispered, struggling to sort through the conflicting emotions the last few minutes had inspired. His sister, safe and smiling, and all grown up... His best friend, awake and uninjured, and cocky as ever... The paradise his life would have been if Darkonda and Dark Spectre had never come to KO-35.

*But no Ashley,* his mind cried, and his eyes went inadvertently to the screen where Carlos's motionless form was still being monitored by DECA.

Remembering this morning, her smiling face staring up at him as she asked him what he was thinking, he hated himself for not telling her. "I love you, Ashley Hammond," he murmured desperately, willing her to *know* how he felt. 

*Why is it so hard to say?* he wondered, and the thought that he might never get the chance now scared him beyond reason. He had seen himself without her, and the person he had been had not even known what he lacked. 

Andros vowed that as soon as he found Ashley, he would tell her what he had been too timid to admit this morning. *For better or worse, she *will* know what I'm thinking.*

"Andros?" TJ's voice interrupted the determined bent of his thoughts, and Andros glanced down at the comm panel automatically. The Blue Ranger sounded as shaken as he felt.

"Andros, what in the name of all that's good just happened?" TJ demanded, and Andros almost smiled at his tone. The other Ranger sounded as though he had taken the transition from the gateway to realspace as a personal affront.

"We're back in normal space," Andros told him, unable to resist another look at the forward screen, as though by sheer force of will he could make Ashley's image appear there.

"I can *see* that," TJ replied, with some asperity. "I mean, what was that…" He trailed off, obviously at a loss for words.

"Vision?" Andros suggested, and he could almost hear TJ nod. 

"That's the word I was leaning toward. What *was* it?"

"Another reality," Andros said simply, staring out at the stars. Somewhere out there, in some other universe, he had never met Ashley Hammond. Despite his happiness, he had been incomplete…

"*What*?" TJ sounded exasperated.

"I told you the gateway was a bridge," Andros said, dragging his focus back to the present in an attempt to explain.

"An interdimensional bridge, between two points in our own dimension," TJ cut in. "Yeah?"

Andros raised an eyebrow. Clearly, he wasn't talking fast enough for TJ. He said nothing, however--whatever TJ had seen must have rattled him badly for him to be this impatient, and Andros wouldn't help matters by delaying the explanation further.

"When I tried to bring us out of the gateway, I must have done something wrong," Andros told him. Hard as that was to admit, he continued without pause. "On our way back here, we caught on another dimension--sort of like jumping down stairs. If you misjudge, you either land on the wrong one, or your foot just grazes one of the others on its way to the stair you were aiming for."

"You're saying we hit another dimension by accident?" TJ asked incredulously.

Andros nodded. "Another reality, where things happened a little--or a lot--differently, and we all ended up as different people. For a moment, we *were* those people, at whatever moment they were at in their lives… then the Megaship 'slipped' the rest of they way out of extraspace and back into our own dimension."

"Cassie," TJ said suddenly, and Andros reached for his morpher.

***

*flash*

"Riding off into the sky/ with you here by my side/ I see a world I'd never have known/ without you to call my own"

Arms wrapped around Saryn's waist, Cassie hung on for dear life as the jetcycle raced across the desert, spraying sand at every turn. She half-sang, half-screamed the words into wind that stole the sound from her lips almost as soon as it was out.

Not quite, though, because he caught some of the song and turned his head a little to shout, "What are you singing?"

"Just something I made up," she yelled back, unable to contain the joy that raced through her as they sped toward the oasis where they'd agreed to meet the others. Joining the Eltaran Exchange Program had been the best thing that had happened to her since she'd left Earth with the other League students.

The jetcycle slowed minutely as Saryn craned his neck to catch her eye briefly. "It is beautiful," he shouted over the shriek of the wind, and she grinned at him.

He returned his attention to the track in front of them, and she squeezed her arms tighter, leaning her head against his back. She'd had her doubts about Elisia, when she'd found out that the program had placed her out here on the frontier. But two days after arriving, she and the other three exchange students had been introduced to the planet's Ranger team.

The first time she had seen Saryn, she had almost stopped breathing. He had been so calm and self-assured, confident in who he was and who his friends were. He had named his teammates and started to introduce himself without the slightest hesitation--until his eye caught hers, and he stumbled over his own name.

That had been a year and a half ago, and the two had been inseparable ever since.

As the jetcycle roared up to the edge of the oasis, Saryn spun the front wheel and skidded to a halt amid a shower of sand. As the engine's whine subsided, another came to life just inside the nearest stand of trees. Cassie saw a flash of blue and pink on a second jetcycle as it darted deeper into the oasis, disappearing along the wooded trail.

"I think we've just been challenged," Cassie said, shading her eyes to squint after Saryn's teammates.

"I have no doubt of that," he agreed, gunning the engine once more. "Hang on!"

She flung her arms around him again as the cycle jumped forward, gaining new traction as grass invaded the sandy floor of the desert. The cycle hit desert cruising speed--dangerous enough, in the steadily increasing vegetation of the oasis--and continued to accelerate. The wheels slipped a few times on the narrow trail that wound through the trees, but Saryn compensated and their speed kept on climbing.

Terrified though she was, she trusted him and, by extension, his skill with a jetcycle. She even found she was enjoying the ride, in a bizarre sort of way--there was something liberating about putting your faith in someone else and letting go of all control.

The rocky crag that was to have been their landmark flickered past, and seconds later the trail spilled into an immense clearing. On the other side lay the river, which sustained this streak of green in the middle of otherwise barren plains--and a conspicuously empty jetcycle.

Even at the speed they were traveling, something in the trees caught Cassie's eye, and she shouted, "Ambush!"

Saryn veered off immediately, arcing around and sending them hurtling back into the surrounding forest. This time there was no track to follow, and their velocity fell sharply, slowing to almost running speed in a matter of seconds. Behind them, the clearing burst into light, showering sparkles that would stick to clothes and hair and glow for longer than anyone in their right mind would spend trying to get them out.

Cassie had seen the prank played once before--by Timmin, on the same two Rangers who had just tried to do it to her and Saryn. It was impressive when successful, but she was just as glad to have avoided the brunt of it herself.

Saryn brought the cycle to a stop, and the engine sputtered out. She slid off the back immediately, and froze when she saw him put a finger over his lips. "Let them wonder for a little while," he whispered, a mischievous smile on his face.

She winked, pulling his helmet off over her head. "It's no more than they deserve," she agreed quietly, shaking her hair out.

Standing, he stabilized the jetcycle and stepped a little closer to her. He reached out and ran a hand through her hair, coming up with one of the clingy sparkles. "You have some in your hair," he murmured unnecessarily.

She tilted her head and smiled up at him. "Take them out for me?" she suggested, and saw an answering smile spread across his face.

He took the helmet from her hands and placed it on the jetcycle. Stepping around behind her, he combed his fingers through her hair, stopping when they caught on a sparkle to disentangle it and pass it over her shoulder to her. She accumulated a handful of the shimmering snowflake-like things before he brushed her dark hair forward over her shoulders and plucked two more sparkles off of her shirt.

One in each hand, he encircled her with his arms and dropped the sparkles simultaneously into her hands. This time, he didn't withdraw his arms, and instead leaned down to kiss the top of her head gently.

Letting the sparkles fall to the ground, Cassie turned within his embrace to face him. Reaching up to wrap her arms around his neck, she lifted her face and felt his lips cover hers. The kiss started softly enough, but she wove her fingers through his hair and pulled him closer, feeling her heartbeat speed up as he responded to her unspoken request.

She moved against him, knowing after their months of dating exactly how to get a reaction out of him. He groaned, and kissed her long and hard before pulling away with an effort. He stared at her with eyes that burned as intensely as they had that first time, and his voice was strained as he said, "We can't."

She smiled, closing the gap he had put between them. "Why not?" she murmured, letting her left hand slide across his chest.

"The others," he said breathlessly, not making any move to step away this time. "They are waiting for us."

"Kris and Timmin are always late," she reminded him, kissing his mouth gently. "And I think Lyris would appreciate the time alone with Jenna more than you think."

His startled expression didn't last long, as she kissed him again and again, soft kisses that teased more than satisfied. He closed his eyes, and she knew she had won even before his arms went around her and his mouth sought hers with a vengeance, intent on making her pay for that teasing…

*flash*

His lips were soft and warm, even as they pressed hungrily against hers, and it was several moments before she was aware enough to realize that their surroundings had changed. He must have noticed at nearly the same moment, for he drew away with a gasp, staring at her with shock and chagrin playing across his face.

"Cassie," he murmured, an apology on his lips. The same look that she had seen back in the oasis lingered in his eyes, though, and she covered his mouth with her hand.

"Shh," she whispered, the memories of that year and a half that they had had together already fading. They would have to make their own memories. 

"Just kiss me," she told him softly, leaning into him as she buried her fingers in his hair. She felt him stiffen, trying to resist, but unable to keep himself from responding when she pressed her lips to his.

He relaxed slowly, and she felt his arms encircle her once more, hands moving over her back as he started to return her kisses with the same passion he had shown in the oasis on Elisia. It felt right, somehow, and she wondered exactly where they had just been…

Then his hands slid under her shirt, and all other thoughts flew out of her mind. She pressed closer, wishing she dared to do to him what he was doing to her--

She heard her morpher go off, and she ignored it, wanting only to stay here with Saryn for the rest of the day. But whoever wanted their attention would not be put off, and her morpher beeped again, the signal repeating until she silenced it with a touch.

Twisting a little herself, she felt him pull away. Andros's voice was saying something to her, but all she could think of was the way her body burned even after Saryn's hands had left her skin--and the ache of her heart when she saw the self-recrimination on his face.

*Not your fault,* she mouthed in his direction, but he only closed his eyes.

"Cassie?" Andros was asking.

"I'm sorry," she said, eyes still on Saryn. "I was… distracted."

"The vision," he said, sympathy in his voice. "TJ and I had them too--are you and Phantom all right?"

The most insane thought raced through her mind at that--obviously, TJ and he had not had the *same* vision she had had. Or if they did, she probably didn't want to know. 

"We're okay," she answered, fighting to get *that* mental image out of her head. "What--what just happened?"

"We passed through another dimension as we left the gateway," Andros said, as though he had been through this before. "For a few minutes, we were living the lives of our alternate selves in that other dimension."

TJ cut in, "Don't try to understand, just accept it. We'll straighten it out later."

Even in her preoccupation, Cassie could hear the grin in his voice, and she appreciated his attempt at humor. "Right," she acknowledged wryly. "Other dimension, just accept. Got it."

She saw Saryn's eyes open at the words she had chosen to repeat, and she stared back at him, willing him to give her some sign that he did not regret what they had started. He did not move, but neither did he look away.

"There's a system nearby that contains at least one planet with a breathable atmosphere," Andros interjected, sounding a little distracted himself. "We'll try to land there, and see if we can get these bulkheads up."

"Good," Cassie said, wanting to end this conversation and have one of her own. "Let us know when we can move around again."

He either didn't notice her shortness, or chalked it up to the "visions" he had mentioned earlier--although personally, "vision" was not a term she would have picked, considering how real the experience she assumed he was referring to had felt. "Will do," was all Andros said, and she heard the comm link click shut.

"Saryn," she began immediately, reaching out to touch him.

He flinched away, and she tried to hide the dismay that filled her at his reaction. "Saryn," she repeated, this time in a pleading whisper.

"I am sorry, Cassie," he said, bowing his head to hide his eyes. "I have behaved inexcusably."

"No," she said sharply, and had the satisfaction of seeing him start at her tone. "*This* is inexcusable--withdrawing after something we clearly need to talk about, and not telling me what I've done wrong!"

She had managed to surprise him into meeting her gaze. "You have done nothing wrong," he told her, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I am the one who has forced myself on you."

"What?" she exclaimed. "Excuse me--" Cassie couldn't keep the indignation out of her tone. "Who kissed whom first?"

"That does not matter," he muttered. "You could not have been expected to know what effect you have on me. You are young--"

"Stop right there," Cassie interrupted. "You *can't* be that much older than me, so where do you get off telling me that I can't possibly know what I want because I'm too young?!"

She hadn't planned to shout at him, but somehow she couldn't help it. He was just so exasperating sometimes.

"In your years, I would be twenty-three," he admitted quietly, and she threw up her hands.

"Since when does six years make a difference?" Cassie demanded. Her parents would never care, any more than they had cared that she had decided to live in Angel Grove instead of Stone Canyon, with a family they still had yet to meet. And after months on the Megaship, jaunting about the universe, she couldn't convince herself that something as insignificant as that should bother her.

"It *does* make a difference," he insisted, staring at her with the same heated look he had had before. 

*He's trying to spook me,* she realized with some amusement. *After what almost happened on Elisia, I can't believe he thinks that will work.* 

"You are still innocent," he told her. "You can not understand."

*Not in that universe, I'm not,* she thought, unbidden, but didn't say so aloud.

Instead, Cassie sighed. "All right, you've made your point. I'm younger than you, and I've never slept with anyone. When did that become a *bad* thing?"

"I told you," he replied, "you have done nothing wrong."

She could hear him about to continue, and she laid a finger across his lips before he could say anything else. "Neither have you," she said firmly.

He had obviously not expected her to do that, but he didn't push her hand away. Instead, he waited--a little nervously, she thought--while she tried to figure out how to get this through his skull.

"Saryn," she said at last, the name almost a sigh. "If you really think I would go along with something I wasn't comfortable with, you don't know me at all. Everything that has happened between the two of us has been something I think we both wanted.

"We've kissed, and we've touched--but frankly, you need more than that. I can feel it every time we're together, and I *know* you would wait for me, if that's what I wanted. But…" She tried not to blush, knowing how forward this sounded but unable to think of any way to reassure him without revealing her own feelings. "What happened, just now, made me even more certain that *I* want more than that too."

He was watching her with an expression somewhere between amazement and guarded hope. Her heart went out to him--he had never allowed himself to believe that she could love him the way he loved her, at least not now.

"You're not alone in this," she promised quietly, running her fingers over his face. "You never have to be alone again, if you don't want to be."

He caught her hand, and pressed it to his lips once more. He kissed her fingers without taking his eyes off her, as though he was afraid she would disappear the instant he looked away. "I do not," he admitted softly. "Not as long as you are here to be the one I will spend my life with."

She didn't even blink. Of course they would spend their lives together--that had been their plan on Elisia, hadn't it? It been all she'd wanted practically since the day she'd met him…

"I love you," Cassie whispered, thankful for whatever miracle that had brought them together again after those uncertain days following Hercuron.

"And I you," Saryn answered, twining his fingers through hers as he held their hands aloft beside his face. She put her other hand on his shoulder and kissed him gently, and he let go of her fingers to draw her into his embrace. 

Her communicator beeped.

"How do they know?" he demanded, and she dissolved into giggles.

"Just lucky I guess," Cassie managed, pulling herself together but not able to bring herself to step away from him. She turned so she was leaning against his chest, and she smiled as he adjusted his arms so he was still holding her.

Tapping her morpher, she heard the tail end of TJ's comment to Andros: "--guarantee we can even crash-land."

Then Andros's voice entered the narrow tunnel. "Cassie, we're about to land, but we still don't know the status of the port thruster. We're not sure how smoothly the Megaship will respond when we try to set down."

"He means it'll probably get a little bumpy," TJ interjected impatiently, and Cassie smiled.

"Thanks for the warning," she said, and when neither appeared inclined to add anything she snapped her morpher shut with finality. 

"Couldn't they just say 'hold on' and leave us alone?" Cassie complained.

"Hold on," Saryn whispered, tugging her to the ground with him. He braced himself against the hatch they had come through earlier, and she squirmed closer, putting her feet against the wall and leaning on him for support. His arm wrapped around her shoulders, and she smiled, perfectly secure as they waited together for the Megaship to set down.

_fin_


	15. Second Chance

_Disclaimer: I blame Saban for the two-day study break that got this written during finals._

**Second Chance  
by Starhawk**

The first thing Carlos was aware of was light. The next was the distinctive sound of atmospheric entry--usually only a dimly felt whisper, the noise assaulting his ears was now a muted roar.

Blinking against the brightness, he struggled to move. It was only then that he realized he was lying down, and that his arms and legs were not responding as they should.

The feel of the decking beneath him registered then, and he concluded that he was on the floor. Bringing the walls into focus with an effort, it was a moment before he recognized them. It wasn't often that he was belowdecks on the Megaship, and never had he had the dubious thrill of waking up there.

*What the--* His first coherent thought cut off as the deck trembled below him. It stabilized briefly, then started to shake with more insistence.

*This is not good,* Carlos decided, trying again to bring his body into at least a sitting position.

This time his limbs responded, albeit sluggishly, and he managed to haul himself up against the wall. No sooner did he get to his feet, however, than the Megaship *hit* something--hard, from the way the ship groaned around him.

Thrown to his knees again, he thought he could feel something grinding against the hull before the ship shuddered to a halt. *Andros's landings could use some work,* he thought wryly, wondering what could possibly be happening to cause such a rough set-down.

He looked automatically for his communicator, but it wasn't on his wrist where it should have been. *Not that it would help anyway,* he remembered suddenly, glancing over to where it lay beside the fracture repair kit. *It quit working about five minutes after the shields went down... and then there was that hull breach--*

Ashley. Ashley had been belowdecks with him. The bulkheads had protected him from the vacuum of space--but where was she?

He clambered to his feet once again, driven by worry for her and a growing sense of concern for the condition of the Megaship. How could they have been fired on inside the damping field? Where were they now? And what had happened to the others...

Force of habit made Carlos retrieve his communicator before doing anything else. When he tried to fasten it around his wrist, though, he found that his fingers weren't responsive enough to manage the clasp. After several seconds, he gave up and held it in his hand as he surveyed his surroundings.

The red light on DECA's camera caught his eye, and he was surprised she hadn't spoken yet. "DECA?" he asked.

The light blinked at him, but no other response was forthcoming. *Audio response must be disabled,* he thought, staring at the camera a moment longer before turning his attention to the nearest bulkhead.

The first thing to do was to get out of here, and find a way to contact the others. Since his communicator wasn't working, he didn't want to count on teleportation. That left the lift system, which was on the other side of what was probably two or three consecutive bulkheads.

Just as he reached the closest one, though, there was a banging on the other side, and he let out a sigh of relief. He wouldn't have to go after the others--they had found him.

His fingers obeyed his commands at last and curled into a fist, which he promptly used to pound a couple times on the bulkhead. There was an answering knock, followed by silence, and then the welcome sound of grinding metal as the bulkhead lifted away from the floor.

Cassie stood on the other side, a smile on her face as she greeted him. "I'm glad to see you moving around," she told him. "It took you longer than DECA thought it should for you to wake up."

"Yeah, well," Carlos answered, "suffocating will do that to a person." He could call to mind in vivid detail what it had felt like to breath and breath with no effect, and he suspected it would be the stuff his nightmares were made of for the next few nights.

Cassie expression was concerned. "Will you be all right?" she asked. "At least for the next few minutes? We'll have DECA check you out, but Andros and TJ may need some help getting to Ashley first..."

"Yeah," he said, managing what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I'll be fine--"

His gaze slid past Cassie, catching sight of the person standing in the shadows behind her for the first time. His eyes widened, and he could only stare at the figure he had seen so briefly the day before. Not that he hadn't seen the Phantom Ranger on many occasions--but the person who stood with them now was not morphed, and his true form was far less familiar and completely unexpected.

Nonetheless, Carlos managed to drag his attention back to Cassie. Phantom had offered no explanation, had not spoken at all, even, so Carlos refrained from comment or question on his appearance. "What happened?" he asked instead, locking gazes with his teammate. "All I know is that the hull breached close enough that most of the air got out before the bulkheads came down."

Cassie nodded, stepping backward and motioning for him to follow. He did so, and Phantom flowed ahead of them, his dark clothing blending into the dim illumination of the lower decks.

"We don't know exactly how it happened," Cassie said over her shoulder, "but somehow the fleet outside the damping field got a target lock on us. With our shields down, they breached the hull twice before we escaped into the gateway."

"The gateway?" Carlos interrupted, ducking under a bulkhead that hadn't lifted all the way. "I thought it took some pretty careful calculations to use those things."

Cassie shrugged, and he saw her glance after Phantom. "I don't think we did it quite right, but we didn't have a lot of choice. We ended up crash-landing here--wherever 'here' is."

"And Ashley?" he asked, assuming from her earlier comments that everyone else was all right.

"You and she were the only ones we couldn't reach," Cassie answered, stepping around a panel that must have blown out when the atmosphere rushed into the void of space. "DECA found you, but a couple of her cameras were damaged by the decompression, and she couldn't get a visual for Ashley. TJ and Andros are looking for her now."

"Her morpher--" He stopped. Ashley had been having the same problem with her communicator that he had; there was no way they could use it to teleport her out of wherever she was.

"Not working," Cassie finished for him, and he nodded.

There was a hissing sound that came from somewhere just ahead, and as the three of them rounded the corner they saw Andros removing his morpher from the access panel beside another bulkhead. The scrape of metal signaled his success, and one more bulkhead inched away from the floor.

Eyes fixed on the scanner in his hand, Andros didn't even look up as Carlos, Cassie, and Phantom joined TJ. He started forward before the hallway had completely cleared, glancing up and straight ahead as he strode down the narrow corridor. "She's on the other side of that bulkhead," he said, pointing with the scanner.

The five of them hurried after him, and Carlos found himself holding his breath as Andros pressed his morpher to the access panel. The indicator light flashed green--but the bulkhead didn't move.

"Let me try," TJ said, stepping forward. He pulled his own morpher off his wrist and touched it to the panel. The light didn't change, but he had no more luck than Andros had.

"Step back, TJ," Andros ordered, flipping the catch on his morpher open. "I've had enough of this."

He hit three numbers in succession, the holographic gold lighting the hallway. The last button cause a flash of blinding crimson, and a fully morphed Red Ranger stood in Andros's place.

Unholstering his astroblaster, Andros stepped back himself and sited down the barrel. Before anyone could say a word, he fired on the access panel. A cascade of sparks burst outward, and the bulkhead shifted a little.

Andros fired again, and the bulkhead lifted a few centimeters off the floor. Carlos could only watch in amazement. There was no reason for that to work on the Megaship--only Andros's sheer frustration had made him try. But it *had* worked, and none of them were going to question it.

Leaping forward, Carlos helped pry the bulkhead farther from the deck. It was about a meter off the ground when Andros refused to wait any longer. He dove underneath, his Ranger uniform disappearing in a shower of sparkles as he did so.

Cassie followed immediately, and Carlos glanced over at TJ. The Blue Ranger just shrugged, and they both gave in and let go of the bulkhead. Crouching down, Carlos ducked underneath with TJ, noting out of the corner of his eye that Phantom had done the same. 

Ashley's prone form was a good thirty meters down the corridor, much closer to the next bulkhead than this one, but Andros and Cassie were already at her side. Carlos ran to join them, and heard TJ hard on his heels. The two of them knelt beside their fallen teammate, looking her over for obvious injuries, and finding, to their relief, that she appeared unscarred.

She was unconscious, however, and Andros did not look relieved. He gripped her hand tightly in one of his, staring down at her face. "Come on, Ashley," Carlos heard him whisper. "Don't do this to me."

Cassie reached for her friend's other hand, and placed one finger on her wrist. Carlos caught her eye, and she nodded--Ashley's pulse was good. If he looked closely, he could see the rise and fall of her chest, which comforted him as much as anything.

TJ had the scanner Andros had been using earlier, and it was aimed at Ashley. "She should be fine, according to this," he reported quietly. "I don't understand why she's not awake."

"Carlos didn't wake up right away either," Cassie pointed out, glancing over at him. She didn't continue with that thought, though, and none of them wanted to be the one to point out the obvious flaw in it--Carlos was awake *now*, while Ashley remained unresponsive.

"Ashley," Andros murmured again, smoothing her hair away from her pale face. The gesture surprised Carlos, who had never expected Andros to display his affection so openly. As he studied their leader more closely, he was even more startled to see tears shining in the Red Ranger's eyes.

"Don't you dare go comatose on us, Ashley Hammond," Cassie said suddenly, sternly, as she looked from her friend to Andros. "Look at this place--do you understand how much work we're going to have to do to get the Megaship back together?"

"Yeah," TJ agreed, joining in the spirit of the teasing with an ease Carlos envied. "No shirking, Ash."

The yellow-clad girl didn't move, but the weak smile on Andros's face said he appreciated their attempt at humor. "You've never been one to avoid what needed to be done," he told her quietly, adding his own gentle rebuke to theirs. "There's a lot of unfinished business around here, Ash--you have to wake up."

Ashley's fingers twitched, and her head moved a little on the deck. Andros put his hands behind her shoulders and squirmed closer, lifting her head into his lap. Again, Carlos was surprised at his actions, but Cassie didn't seem fazed.

Reaching across her friend's body, she touched Andros's arm to get his attention. "Keep talking," she urged him quietly. "She's responding to you."

He swallowed, then nodded his understanding. "Ash," Andros said, his voice perfectly audible to all of them in the silence of the damaged corridor, "you can't stay like this. There's too much still to do--we need you. *I* need you."

If Carlos had doubted at first, those last three words convinced him that Andros wasn't talking about the ship anymore--if he ever had been. Watching the leader he had come to admire in life as well as in battle, the Black Ranger saw a single tear escape Andros's control and trickle down his cheek.

"I should have told you this morning," he whispered, staring at Ashley's closed eyes as though there was no one but the two of them within hearing distance. "I'm sorry I was too scared to do it then--I regret it more than anything now."

Hearing Andros admit to being scared, Carlos was beyond surprise. His respect for the Red Ranger was increasing with every minute, but he couldn't help but feel that they were all overhearing something that wasn't any of their business.

That suspicion was confirmed with Andros's next words. Ignoring the other Rangers, he touched her face gently, and spoke in a soft tone that nonetheless carried clearly to everyone assembled. "I love you, Ashley."

An intangible weight lifted from Carlos's shoulders as he watched Andros. The Red Ranger's face was serious and completely open as he looked down at Ashley. *He really does,* Carlos thought. *He really does love her... and I think he would do anything right now to be able to let her know.*

He owed Ashley an apology. She had been right when she said Andros would never do anything to hurt her--he could see it in the Red Ranger's expression. They truly did have something special between them, and while Carlos might not have been wrong to question it, he *had* been wrong not to trust her.

She stirred, and Andros leaned forward. "Ashley?" he asked, his tone hopeful and apprehensive at the same time. And no wonder--he had just confessed his love to all and sundry, without knowing what her reaction would be if she heard.

Ashley's eyelids fluttered open, and Carlos heard a collective sigh of relief from all of the Rangers. Cassie was beaming at her friend, but she only had eyes for Andros.

"I could hear you, talking to me," she murmured, staring up at him. "From a long way away... it was almost as though you called me back."

"As long as you *are* back," Andros said fiercely, squeezing her shoulders.

"What--" She struggled to speak. "What did you say, just a second ago?"

Andros hesitated, but having decided to do something, he did it all the way. "I said I love you," he told her, not looking away from her face. "I think that I've loved you for a long time without realizing it, and I didn't want you to go any longer without knowing."

Carlos couldn't help but be impressed by Andros's courage. He found himself waiting along with everyone else, Andros included, for Ashley's reply.

She put her hand over his, smiling up at him. Her eyes shone, whether with unshed tears or sheer happiness or a combination of the two, Carlos couldn't tell, and she whispered, "I love you too, Andros."

Carlos fought back an insane urge to cheer, and saw TJ doing the same thing. Cassie had less restraint; she actually clapped her hands together before she realized what she was doing. Hanging her head, she apologized, "Sorry, guys. But you're just so sweet..."

She sighed, and TJ laughed at her. "This isn't a soap opera, Cass."

"Not that you'd know it," Carlos added.

Andros was blushing, and Ashley giggled. "Power Rangers in Love," she murmured. "I can see it now... Wouldn't that make a great TV show?"

"No!" Andros exclaimed, echoed by TJ and Carlos.

Ashley just giggled again, and Andros shifted. "You need to get to the Medical bay," he told her firmly.

"What, are you afraid you'd be cast in the lead role?" she teased, and a smile crept across his face before he could hide it.

Seeing that Andros could sit there, smiling at Ashley, for most of the afternoon, Carlos intervened. "You really should get DECA to check you out, Ash. Just to make sure you're all right."

Cassie snorted. "You're not one to talk, Carlos. You were in pretty much the same situation a few minutes ago, remember?"

He opened his mouth to argue, but Cassie had that look in her eye, so he just sighed. "I'll get checked out if Ashley does," he offered, knowing Ashley wouldn't escape a trip to the Medical bay anyway.

Cassie nodded, and beside her, TJ got to his feet. He proffered a hand, which she took, turning to help Ashley up once she was standing. Carlos stepped out of the way as Andros helped her up from the other side, and reached out instinctively as she swayed.

Andros caught her arm, frowning. "Are you all right?"

She nodded, but the way she held one hand out in front of her as though she weren't quite sure what she'd hit gave her away. "Just a little dizzy."

Andros's frown deepened. Holding up his hand, he asked, "How many fingers?"

Ashley sighed. "That's silly, Andros."

Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Answer the question, Ash."

With another sigh, she squinted at his hand, and Andros shook his head. "You've got a concussion." He took hold of her arm again and tugged gently. "Come on; we're taking you to the Medical bay right now."

The fact that she went to follow without complaint alarmed Carlos as much as the way she stumbled when she tried to lift her feet. He was at her other side in a second, catching her arm and resisting the temptation to put his arm around her waist to support her. Andros did that, and between the two of them, she could balance well enough to walk.

Cassie and TJ hovered at the edges of Carlos's vision, and Phantom melted out of their way as they moved slowly back toward the half-raised bulkhead. "Wait," Ashley said suddenly, dragging her feet and turning her head to follow Phantom's movements.

Carlos looked in his direction as well. To tell the truth, he had forgotten the mysterious Ranger was there--but Ashley's confusion ran deeper than that.

Giving the other a puzzled look, she asked, "Who are you?"

Everyone's gaze on him, he hesitated only briefly before stepping forward. "You know me as the Phantom Ranger," he said quietly, his hand reaching for the ruby pendant he wore on a chain around his neck.

For an instant, his armor flickered into view, surrounding him and removing any trace of individual identity. Then the visor turned to the side, glancing away from Ashley. The uniform vanished again, and Carlos realized he had been looking straight at Cassie.

"Oh," Ashley said at last, breaking the silence. "Well... It's nice to meet you."

Carlos had to admit that that seemed the appropriate response. But no further reaction was possible, as Andros's communicator beeped insistently.

He raised his left hand, but his right was still supporting Ashley. Before he could do move, Ashley freed her own left hand and tapped his communicator for him. He gave her a startled smile, then addressed his wristpiece. "This is Andros."

"Andros!" Alpha's incessantly "up" voice came back. "DECA's detecting an interdimensional distortion nearby!"

"What?" Carlos exclaimed, exchanging glances with Cassie and then TJ.

"It's probably a scanner malfunction," TJ offered. "We took some major damage in that last attack."

"Still," Andros put in, "someone should check it out." His arm around Ashley, he hesitated for the first time all morning.

"I'll go," TJ volunteered, suiting actions to words before anyone could protest.

Phantom started after him, but Cassie stopped him with two words. "No way," she said firmly, catching his arm. "Don't think I've forgotten the trouble you had breathing earlier. You're going to the Medical bay with the rest of us."

Helping Ashley make her way across the deck, Carlos glanced away from her for a moment to frown at Phantom. "Are you all right?" he asked, addressing the other for the first time.

He nodded, but Cassie overrode him. "No. He seems to forget that he was *shot* yesterday."

"I was morphed," he reminded her.

They had made it to the bulkhead Andros had blown open to get to Ashley, and Carlos realized they might have some trouble getting past this particular obstacle. The access panel was literally shot, and the reinforced steel was little more than a third of the way off the ground.

"So was I," Cassie countered, pausing to see if Andros and Carlos would need any help. "But those weapons were a lot stronger than they should have been, and you weren't recovered enough to heal right away."

At first, it looked like Ashley would make it without a problem. She ducked underneath the bulkhead, her fingers tightening on Carlos's hand but not using him to stabilize herself. As she tried to straighten up on the other side, though, the sudden movement must have been the last straw. He felt her stumble, but as she lost her balance she jerked her hand away from his to catch herself, and he could only watch as she tumbled forward.

Luckily, Andros's arm steadied her somewhat, and his other hand caught her shoulder to keep her from falling. She grabbed at him, and the way she wavered even with both hands on something solid made Carlos wonder if she was a lot worse off than she had let on.

Andros must have noticed too, because he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her without a word. She clung to him for several seconds before she started to relax. "I'm okay," she murmured at last, making no move to push him away.

Andros hugged her tighter for a moment, and Carlos couldn't help smiling at the two of them there. He glanced over at Cassie, and they grinned at each other. Everyone knew that Ashley had had feelings for their leader for some time now, and lately it had been obvious that he reciprocated--it was good to see him acknowledge their mutual affection so openly.

Carlos shot a look in Phantom's direction as well, wondering what their ally thought of this. But Phantom's expression was completely unreadable as he gazed at the couple, and after a moment Carlos turned back to them.

Andros activated his communicator, moving far enough back from Ashley that he could raise his left hand between them. "DECA," he said, "we need an intraship teleportation. Can you send the four--five--of us to the Medical bay?"

"Of course, Andros," the computer's voice replied, sounding strange coming from the morpher instead of directly from a camera. "I cannot contact either Carlos or Ashley, but I am reading their Power signatures in your vicinity."

Carlos sighed in relief. "So we can still morph," he said, looking at Andros for some sign of agreement.

He nodded. "It must only be the electronic component that's damaged. Your connection to the Astro powers is as strong as it was before."

"Confirmed," DECA answered. "Teleporting now."

The world disappeared from around Carlos, replaced by a shimmering, vibrant black that wasn't so much the absence of light as it was the presence of something too bright to look directly at. Then the wash of color was gone, and he was standing in a Medical bay that seemed suddenly much more crowded than usual.

Andros helped Ashley onto the patient bed immediately, and while she refused to lie down, she did seem glad to be off her feet. While Andros tended to Ashley, Cassie ran a second medscanner over Carlos. She frowned at the readings, and looked over at Andros.

Carlos couldn't help fidgeting, trying to peer at the scanner himself while she was distracted. Cassie turned back to glare at him. "Hold still," she told him sternly.

He froze, giving her his most innocent look. She rolled her eyes, but her attention was diverted by a movement to his right. "And you," she said to Phantom, just as threateningly. Slapping an autorelease next to the door, she caused a second patient bed to unfold. "Sit."

Surprisingly enough, he did, and she turned back to Andros. Tapping his shoulder to get his attention, she asked, "Are you getting the same readings I'm getting?"

Andros turned toward her, and they compared medscanners. Carlos glanced at the readout over Ashley's patient bed, but Cassie's scanner was operating independently, and the only readings displayed there were Ashley's. Without having anything to compare them to, the results of the scan meant nothing to him.

"That's strange," Andros said at last. "The effects of the damping field?"

Cassie nodded in agreement. "What else could it be? With the shields down, the lower decks were most exposed."

Ashley caught Carlos's eye, and he shrugged. "If you don't tell us what's going on," she warned Cassie and Andros, "you're going to have two very unhappy Rangers."

"Sorry," Andros apologized, sitting down beside her and tilting the scanner so she could see it. "You and Carlos have similar readings, here, and here."

He indicated something on the tiny screen, and Ashley squinted at the medscanner. She was clearly having trouble reading it, but just as clearly didn't want to admit it.

Carlos was about to say something, but Andros glanced at her expression and must have realized what was going on. "The readout for your nervous system shows two sudden drops," he explained, not withdrawing the scanner, but no longer pointing at it either. "One for signal transmission and the other for stimuli response."

"Which means…" Ashley prompted, when he paused.

"It means the damping field was affecting the two of you through the hull," Andros said. "The lower decks aren't nearly as well insulated as the main decks are, and with the shields down, it looks like there wasn't anything to keep the effects of the field from influencing the interior of the Megaship."

"That's why our communicators stopped working," Carlos agreed. "But what does it have to do with us?"

Andros gave him the Look, and Carlos raised an eyebrow. He wondered if Ashley could make him stop doing that…

"The human nervous system runs off electricity," Andros told him, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The only reason we can move is because neurotransmitters carry messages from our brain to our limbs, powered by electric action potentials."

*Someone paid *way* too much attention in physics class,* Carlos thought, about to brush off Andros's explanation with, "Whatever you say…"

But the flash of guilt on Andros's face when he looked at Ashley silenced him. *He's mad at himself, for letting her get hurt,* Carlos realized suddenly. The insight made it easier to forgive the Red Ranger's condescending tone, and then Cassie spoke into the brief pause, distracting him.

"Your scan shows the same thing," she told Carlos. "I think we can give you something to counteract the effects, but you should probably take it easy for the next few hours."

"Great," Ashley groaned. "So what you're saying is that on top of a concussion, I'm going to have horrible reflexes for the rest of the day."

"*You* should take it easy in any case," Andros said firmly. "There's nothing to do for a concussion but rest and recover on your own, and I expect you to do it."

TJ's voice, filtered through the Megaship's comm system, cut off any reply she might have made. "Andros, Cassie, you guys had better come to the Bridge."

Cassie, being closer to the door, touched the comm panel. "What's going on, Teej?"

"That distortion signal?" His voice was tight with excitement. "I don't think it's a scanner malfunction."

Andros scrambled to his feet, dropping the scanner on the counter as he did so. Staring intently at Ashley, he told her, "Stay here, all right? We'll let you know what's going on as soon as we can, I promise."

She sighed, but she must have known that getting her to the Bridge would only delay Andros. "All right," she agreed quietly. "Go--but don't forget about me, okay?"

He smiled, touching her cheek. "Never," he replied just as softly.

Then he was gone. Phantom was standing as well, and he and Carlos moved to follow the Red Ranger--only to find the door blocked by Cassie.

"Where do you think *you're* going?" she demanded. "Ashley's going to need some company, you know."

Carlos heard a noise from Ashley that sounded suspiciously like a giggle. "Cassie," he tried to reason, "there's nothing wrong with us."

Cassie folded her arms. "Sure there isn't." The determined look on her face told Carlos that he had already lost this battle. "If that's what you want to think, go right ahead. But you're both staying here."

"Cassie," Phantom began, a persuasive note in his voice that Carlos had never heard before.

She looked over at him, and for just an instant, her expression softened. But then she shook her head. "You haven't even been checked out, so don't give me that. Carlos, get DECA to make up some serum for you and Ashley, and you--"

She glared at Phantom, not very convincingly, in Carlos's opinion, but it worked. Phantom sat down again, and she aimed the medscanner at him. "Don't move," she warned.

DECA was way ahead of them, and the medical synthetron was flashing when Carlos reached the counter. There were two doses of something that looked very much like color-coded cough medicine inside, and he removed them with a dubious glance at DECA's camera. "This is going to boost my nervous system?"

"And did you have to color-code them?" Ashley demanded, accepting the gold-colored liquid with a murmured thank you to Carlos.

DECA's camera blinked. "Yours also contains a pain reliever, Ashley. A headache is the most common symptom of a concussion, and the serum will counteract it, along with improving the diffusion rate across synapses in your nervous system."

Ashley looked over at Carlos, mouthing, "Diffusion across synapses?"

He gave her a wry grin and a shrug. "Drink up," he advised, swallowing the unappealing liquid in one gulp.

He tried not to choke as the taste hit him. "DECA!" he yelped, when he could speak again. Setting the tiny cup back in the synthetron, he shot an evil look at her camera. "That's the most vile stuff I've ever tasted!"

Ashley passed her own cup over to him--empty--with a disgusted look on her face. "And she was doing so well with the food, too," Ashley muttered.

DECA's camera blinked at them, but the computer did not respond.

By the other patient bed, Cassie sighed. "It's just the effects of the bruising," she told Phantom quietly, obviously not intending to broadcast the diagnosis to Carlos and Ashley. "It's healing really quickly, but it isn't as fast as it would be on one of us."

"You have two separate energy reserves," he pointed out in a low tone. "Your own, and the one granted to you by the Power. My energy is a hybrid of the two, and it does not give me the same healing ability that you have."

Carlos turned away from what he assumed was a private conversation. "Ash," he said quietly, sitting down next to her.

"Yeah?" she asked, her gaze focusing on him from somewhere far away.

"I wanted to apologize for what I said to you this morning," he told her, looking for any sign of understanding in her eyes. "I should have trusted you. I'm sorry."

She blinked, but she didn't look particularly upset. "Thanks, Carlos," she said, studying him. "That means a lot to me."

"Friends?" he asked, and felt better when a smile spread across her face.

"Forever," she agreed, leaning over to hug him.

When they separated, he saw Cassie watching them with a speculative look on her face. "I meant to ask you, Ash," she said, too casually. "How's it going with Andros?"

Ashley shot a piercing look at Carlos, and he held his hands out to the side. "I didn't tell her," he assured his friend.

"What, about this morning?" Cassie asked, and Ashley's eyes widened.

"TJ," she muttered to no one in particular. "I swear, when I get my hands on that boy…"

"Come on, you can't blame him," Cassie chided. "There's not that many of us, after all, and we're with each other constantly. So--what about you and Andros?"

Ashley sighed in exasperation. "I didn't sleep with him!"

It was then that it occurred to Carlos to glance over at Phantom, and he had to stifle a laugh. Still seated, to the left of and slightly behind Cassie, the look on Phantom's face was priceless.

Carlos's amusement must not have been as unobtrusive as he thought, however, for both Cassie and Ashley turned to look at him, and from him to Phantom. Sensing their regard, Phantom opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. Finally, looking directly at Ashley, he began, "You and Andros--"

He stopped just as suddenly. "Forgive me. It is none of my affair."

Ashley just laughed. "That doesn't stop anyone else, believe me."

"Cassie!" TJ's exclamation made everyone in the Medical bay look up. The Blue Ranger burst into the room, not even slightly out of breath. "Cass, we need you."

Andros was right behind him. "We have to go," he announced, speaking at least half to Ashley. "The distortion signal is real--we came out of the gateway several hundred light years in front of Divatox's army."

That was a little too much of a coincidence for Carlos. "How is that possible?" he asked skeptically.

"Remember the probability curve you plotted for the fleet's destination?" TJ demanded. "It didn't do us any good at the time, but that course was the last set of coordinates entered into the nav computer before we went through the gateway."

"That's how we got through without calculating any kind of vector first," Carlos guessed, and Andros nodded.

"We *had* a vector--yours. And now we're in front of the fleet, but not by much. They'll be out of scanning range within the hour."

"The Megaship isn't spaceworthy," Cassie objected, looking to Ashley and Carlos for support.

"No," Andros agreed, holding up his right arm. The Battlelizer glittered prominently on his wrist. "But the Delta Megaship is."

"I will accompany you," Phantom said, standing. "I know the Delta Megaship as well as anyone."

"Better, probably," Andros agreed, trading a look Carlos couldn't decipher with the other Ranger.

Seeing the team divide, Carlos hesitated. He didn't want to let his friends go off without him, but hard as it was to admit, they could probably handle this on their own. And he *really* didn't want to leave Ashley alone on the Megaship with a concussion.

Andros solved the problem for him. "Carlos, will you stay here with Ashley?'

The Black Ranger nodded, glad to have the decision--or the excuse--made for him. Ashley, on the other hand, started to object immediately.

"I know," Andros said, coming to stand beside her. "You can take care of yourself. That's what I used to say, remember?"

He took her hand. "None of us should be alone, Ash, and the Megaship needs someone to defend it while we're gone. Besides--" He leaned down and whispered something in her ear.

Ashley giggled, shooting a look at Carlos as she did so. "All right," she agreed reluctantly. "What I was actually going to say is that I was coming with you, but since you asked so nicely, I'll stay."

"Thank you," Andros said quietly. He looked around the room nervously before bending down to give her a quick kiss on the lips. 

She reached up to touch his face as he straightened, and for an instant they shared a smile that excluded everyone else. Carlos felt a flicker of jealousy--not of Andros, but of Andros and Ashley, and the feelings that they were no longer afraid to express in front of the others.

*Will I ever have someone like that?* Carlos wondered, watching Andros ask, "Will you see us off?"

"Of course," Ashley agreed, smiling up at him. He put an arm around her and helped her to her feet--Carlos wasn't entirely convinced that Ashley needed the support anymore, but she didn't seem to mind.

Cassie caught Carlos's arm as the others filed out into the hallway. He stopped, giving her a questioning look, but she waited until the room had emptied.

"I know you guys will want to do repair work while we're gone," she said at last. "Just be careful, all right? Your nervous system isn't working as well as it should be right now, and you're both bound to be a little clumsy. Especially Ashley--with her concussion, she couldn't even read the scanner Andros was showing her."

"You saw that too, huh?" Carlos agreed, looking after the others. 

Cassie nodded, and the two of them walked slowly out into the corridor. "I just don't want her to get hurt trying to do too much too soon," she said. "The rest of us would do it too--ignore our injuries and keep on working--but normally, we'd have the rest of the team to tell us to stop. You'll be the only two here."

"So the responsibility's mine," he finished, smiling. "I'll make sure she doesn't overwork, Cass; don't worry."

"You either," she said firmly. "I want you *both* to take it easy."

Carlos saluted. "Yes, sir," he said with a smile, and she laughed at him.

They caught up to the others at the Megaship's exterior ramp, already lowered to reveal a sandy landscape that stretched out beneath a dusty blue sky. The Delta Megaship waited only a few dozen meters away, looking much smaller than usual on the open plains of this desert planet.

Andros, Phantom, and TJ waited at the bottom of the ramp, and Cassie hurried down to join them. Carlos walked over to Ashley, who stood leaning against the wall by the control panel for the ramp. He touched her shoulder, and she turned to smile at him.

Andros raised a hand, and the other three followed his example. "Good hunting," Carlos called after them, and saw Cassie flash a thumbs-up in their direction.

"DECA," Andros said into his morpher. "Four to teleport onto the Delta Megaship."

"Teleporting," DECA replied, and the four disappeared in a shower of sparkles.

"Good luck," Ashley whispered, as the sparkles streaked across the desert toward the other ship. Carlos put an arm around her shoulders, and they stood watching until the Delta Megaship lifted off and disappeared into the sky.

_fin_


	16. Liberation

_Disclaimer: I only steal from Saban because I like the characters so much. It's no excuse, but it is a bizarre form of flattery…_

**Liberation  
by Starhawk**

Phantom blinked as the deep red color of teleportation faded from his sight. Around him, the features of the Delta Megaship came into view--darker than he remembered, and he wondered if the Astro Rangers kept the ship on standby when not in use.

Then something more than the dimness registered, and he frowned. "Why the Control Room?" he asked, looking around the small space in which they found themselves.

"Delta Megaship, lift off," Andros ordered. He addressed, not the computer, as Phantom would have expected, but the Battlelizer on his wrist.

They could all hear the engines come online, but the Control Room had no viewscreen on which to monitor their progress through the atmosphere. Andros gave Phantom with a puzzled look. "Where else would we go?"

*Did I miss something?* "The… Bridge?" Phantom suggested hesitantly, wondering if something had happened that he didn't know about.

"There's a Bridge?" TJ asked, with a straight face and curious tone. If he was joking, he was doing a superb job.

Phantom looked at Cassie, but she seemed as genuinely surprised as the rest of them. "It is a spaceship," he said slowly, still unconvinced that they were serious. "It has to have a center of operations."

Andros shrugged. "I assumed that was the Control Room. This is where you sent me with the activation disk."

"Because this is the most secure location on the ship," Phantom agreed, trying not to show his dawning amusement. "And it is possible to run the entire ship from here--but it was not designed to always be so controlled."

He turned his head to speak directly to the computer. "KERI, transfer the four of us to the Bridge."

There was no answer, and the uncertainty swept over him again. After all, this had been their ship for months--perhaps they had programmed it to respond only to the Astro Rangers' voices.

"Who's Keri?" Cassie asked, breaking the silence.

The look he gave her must have been one of pure amazement, for she folded her arms across her chest defensively and glanced at TJ. The Blue Ranger shrugged.

"KERI is the onboard computer," Phantom said at last, feeling as though he were in another alternate dimension. "Surely you have interacted with her before."

At that, Andros shifted uncomfortably. "We never had any reason to activate the computer. We've always controlled the Delta Megaship with the Battlelizer."

Phantom tried not to choke. "You operated the entire ship by remote control? Constantly?" The Delta Megaship had a sophisticated autopilot, but that was ridiculous.

Andros nodded, glancing at the Battlelizer on his right wrist.

"I didn't even know the Delta Megaship had an artificial intelligence," TJ put in.

"Me neither," Cassie agreed. "It's always worked fine the way it is."

Phantom was silent for a moment, wondering how to ask without making it sound condescending. "Do you--wish this situation to continue?"

Andros shrugged, looking a little chagrinned. "To be honest, I'm not sure how to change it. But Ashley and I agreed yesterday that it would be a help to have a second computer system…"

He looked over at the others. Both TJ and Cassie nodded, which Phantom took for group consensus. Walking over to the front of the room, he paused beside the diskreader and reached for his ruby.

Stone clenched tightly in his hand, he hesitated--then, taking a deep breath, he pulled the chain off over his head. He heard a surprised inhalation from behind him, and felt the familiar psychological twinge as he removed the crystal. It was hard to depend on it so much, but the alternative--

He pushed that thought away. Tapping a few controls, he triggered the Delta Megaship's activation code. A scanning beam emanated from the console, and he placed the ruby in its path. 

The violet light of the beam flashed blue when it touched the stone, and Phantom glanced over his shoulder. "Cassie, may I borrow your morpher?"

She removed it and pressed it into his hand without question, and he saw TJ and Andros exchange looks. Only then did he realize that he probably ought to have asked for Andros's morpher… but Cassie had been closer, and it was too late now.

He set Cassie's morpher next to his Power crystal, and the scanning beam turned green. "It requires at least two Power signatures to confirm the activation code," he explained, laying his hand on the console. "Please put your hand next to your morpher so the computer does not think I stole it from you."

She smiled as she did as she was told, and he found himself watching the way her lips curved and remembering how they had felt on his. It had been so hard to let her go after the Megaship crash-landed…

He gave his head a shake, and looked back down at the control panel in front of them. It had confirmed the presence of two holders of the Power, and the end of the sequence ran past almost too quickly for the eye to follow.

"The onboard computer is online and activated," a female voice announced suddenly. Then the tone changed slightly as it added, "I am KERI, fluent in over four thousand forms of communications and capable of navigating ninety percent of the known universe. I am responsible for the everyday operation of all vital systems on this ship."

He was aware that the others were listening to the recitation, but he couldn't help noticing how gentle Cassie's hand looked resting on the console. It was all too easy to remember her hands--

*Focus,* he demanded silently, annoyed when the panel in front of him blurred for a second. These thoughts of her didn't surprise him; indeed, he was used to them--but it did bother him that they were distracting him to this degree.

*Tired,* his mind supplied, and he sighed without realizing it. He *was* tired, and the separation from his crystal, brief though it was, wasn't helping.

"Hey," Cassie said quietly, touching his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

Strangely enough, the question--or her touch--cleared his mind a little, and he nodded at her. Her gaze continued to be skeptical, however, and she picked up his ruby from the console. "Don't move," she warned, and she lifted the chain as though she didn't trust him to put it on himself.

He closed his eyes as the ruby slid into place around his neck, wanting to watch Cassie but knowing that she was too close for his peace of mind right now. "KERI," he said, repeating his earlier command as he felt Cassie step away, "transfer the four of us to the Bridge."

When he opened his eyes again, they were standing in the well-lit command center of the Delta Megaship. The Astro Rangers were looking around in amazement, as though it had never occurred to them that such a place would exist. Cassie, in particular, had an expression of delighted awe on her face, and it made him smile to see it.

Andros got over his surprise the quickest, and within moments, he was at the scanner controls. "KERI, scan for signs of interdimensional distortion."

"Multiple distortions located," KERI replied immediately, and it was no wonder. Considering their position relative to Divatox's army, they had to be almost on top of the distortions.

TJ was at Andros's side in seconds. "Is there any way to identify the ship that Carlos and I were on? Ours was the only steady signal--it has to have been Zordon."

Andros nodded in agreement. "If I can link up with DECA from here, we should be able to download the power signature from their engines and match it to one of the ships in the fleet."

"I have established a link," KERI said, as the two Rangers started to blur together. Phantom blinked, and this time he felt the Power respond, clearing his vision and boosting his energy level a little.

Cassie had joined the other Rangers by now, and was pointing at something on the control panel between the three of them. "I'm dumping those coordinates into the nav computer. Andros, can you get us there in one piece?"

"Of course," Andros answered, sounding a little miffed.

"I think she's referring to that so-called landing of yours a couple of hours ago," TJ offered, obviously amused.

Already at the pilot's station, Andros gave them his characteristic irritated look over his shoulder. "*You* try setting down with only one thruster." 

Without waiting for a reply, he engaged the lightspeed engines and announced unnecessarily, "We're leaving orbit."

"KERI, initiate the EM cloak," Phantom said, and to his ears his voice seemed to come from some distance away.

"EM cloak?" TJ repeated, but it was Cassie whose gaze locked with Phantom's. Looking up from the scanners, she seemed to see straight through him, and he knew she'd noticed his growing detachment.

She put a hand on TJ's shoulder, then stepped away from the console and started toward Phantom. TJ looked puzzled, but he busied himself with some aspect of the scanner readout and said nothing.

This time, things didn't just blur, they *moved*, and the Power did not help. He put a hand out to steady himself, and found Cassie beside him. The moment she took his hand, the room steadied again, but he let her guide him to a chair anyway. It did feel good to sit down, and better to have her fingers entwined with his, so he did not protest.

"Was it taking your ruby off, or are you just tired?" she whispered.

"A combination of the two," he said quietly, though he knew that such a short time without his ruby would never have affected him if his energy hadn't been so depleted already. "Mostly tired."

She leaned back against the auxiliary consoles, and her uniform stretched taut across her legs. *Not tired enough to ignore how attractive you are, though,* he thought wryly, trying to convince himself not to stare.

"I can't say I'm surprised," she said, startling him out of his reflections. Her soft tone was tinged with asperity. "One day of sleep can't make up for weeks without it."

"How did--" He shook his head. *I have to stop asking her that.*

She answered anyway, and it was not quite what he expected. "The logs on your starfighter told me," Cassie told him. "I accessed them by accident--you don't take very good care of yourself, do you?"

He assumed the question was rhetorical, but he was still glad that Andros prevented him from having to reply. "I'm bringing us out of hyperspace," the Red Ranger said, and Phantom looked up in time to see the simulated starlines disappear from the screen.

In their place, Divatox's fleet swarmed into being around the Delta Megaship. He saw the other Rangers tense, and he squeezed Cassie's hand reassuringly. The cloak would hide them from the fleet's scanners, and, despite the viewscreen's magnification, none of the ships were close enough to catch a glimpse of them by simply looking out a window.

"I've got it," TJ told them, tapping the console in front of him. "I'm downloading the coordinates into our morphers now."

Cassie glanced down as her morpher flashed a confirmation of the data, but Andros paid no attention. "TJ," he said, and the Blue Ranger looked up just as Andros tossed a handheld scanner in his direction. "You were over there last time--you and I will go, determine Zordon's location, and see how hard it's going to be to free him."

TJ nodded, and Andros glanced over at the other two Rangers. His eyes slid across Phantom and came to rest on Cassie. Phantom tried not to take offense--he was still unmorphed, and he couldn't expect the others to be comfortable with someone who appeared as a stranger to them. Besides, Cassie was part of the team. *How well do I know any of them, really?*

Andros was saying something, and Phantom realized that he'd just missed almost all of the Red Ranger's instructions to Cassie. *Or maybe,* he thought ruefully, seeing Cassie nod, *Andros knows as well as she does that I'm not very alert right now.* The last thing they needed was another disaster like the one that had made them abort their rescue mission last time.

"Good luck," Cassie told them.

TJ gave her a half-smile. "Thanks--I think we'll need it."

He and Andros exchanged glances, then simultaneously extended their right hands. "Let's Rocket!"

Flashes of blue and red obscured their forms for a moment. As the light faded, two morphed Rangers appeared in their place. Then the two touched their morphers, and they were gone again--the sparkles of teleportation fell to the ground and vanished, leaving Cassie and Phantom alone on the Bridge.

Phantom turned where he sat to track their progress on the auxiliary scanner console, but she caught his hand as he reached out to touch the controls. "I'm on it," Cassie said, nudging him out of the way. "Just relax."

"I wish to help," he protested, hoping his voice didn't sound as plaintive as he suspected it did.

"Well, *I* don't wish you to help," she told him, smiling to take the sting out of her words. "I don't want you to collapse on me again, so take it easy."

"I should have stayed on the Megaship, for all the assistance I am providing," he muttered.

Cassie shrugged, frowning at the console. "Maybe. But then the Delta Megaship would still be running on automatic, and if you ask me, having KERI activated increases our chances."

He watched her bring up an image of Andros and TJ on the smaller screen set into the wall. "I can not believe you ran the Delta Megaship on remote control alone for so long."

She paused long enough to raise an eyebrow at him. "You didn't exactly leave us an instruction manual."

"Cassie." TJ's voice, pitched low but amplified by the speakers to an easily audible volume, intruded before Phantom could reply. "We're following the distortion, and from the information you guys brought back, I think we're heading for the ship's central work bay."

Cassie switched to an external view of the ship they were on, and after a moment, the scanners managed to penetrate the hull. "That's what it looks like from here, too," she agreed, studying the vague layout now displayed on the screen. "I've got a sketchy map here; I'm going to try and download it to your scanner."

Her tone was confident, but Phantom saw her hesitate. "Here," he said quietly, tapping the console. The commands were familiar, despite spending the past few months on a starfighter, and the message "Download complete" appeared after a minute.

"Thanks," she said, with a smile that could make anything worthwhile. "Do you have that, TJ?"

"Yeah," the Blue Ranger's voice answered. "We're--" He cut off abruptly, and Cassie used the link KERI had with the scanner to bring up the interior shot again. It showed both Rangers ducking out of the hallway they were in, and Phantom could only assume that they had encountered pirahnatrons.

"Come on, guys," Cassie whispered, and he looked over to see her staring intently at the screen. "Don't get caught."

He wanted to comfort her, but he didn't know what to say. It had been so long since he had had anyone to worry about; he couldn't remember the words. *If there ever were any,* he thought suddenly, still gazing at her worried expression.

Then TJ snapped the scanner shut, and KERI lost the visual. Cassie sighed, looking away from the screen and catching his eye. He tried to smile. "They'll be all right," Phantom promised, more to cheer her up than anything else.

"I know." She glanced involuntarily at her morpher. "They can call for help if they get into serious trouble. But that doesn't make not knowing any easier."

Hearing the echo of the same words she had said to him earlier, he winced. For once, though, she didn't notice. Instead, she walked around him to call up something on the auxiliary navigation console, and he breathed silent thanks that she didn't seem inclined to pursue the subject.

"We're pacing the fleet," Cassie said abruptly. "We're probably out of range of the Megaship's scanners by now, but we should still be able to contact them if we have to."

"Except that that would mean breaking radio silence," he pointed out tiredly, gazing at the image of the fleet now displayed on the viewscreen.

She put a hand on his shoulder, and he could hear the amusement in her voice as she said, "Which would give away our position; I know. I was just making conversation."

He turned his head, surprised, and she patted his shoulder. "For someone who's exhausted, you're incredibly tense," she remarked absently.

He nodded without meaning to. He was not used to being unmorphed around others, and it was more stressful than he had expected. The other Rangers didn't seem to know exactly how to respond to him anymore, and he felt a little lost himself. But he couldn't tell her that when it obviously meant so much to her that he not morph.

"I am just worried about your friends," he said at last, hoping that was enough of the truth that she wouldn't be able to tell it wasn't the *whole* truth.

If she knew, she didn't mention it. She did put a hand on his other shoulder, though, and he knew what she meant to do before she asked, "Do you mind?"

He hesitated, knowing he shouldn't let her do it. It would either distract him to the point where he couldn't think, or relax him enough that he wouldn't be able to keep from falling asleep. But frankly, he was too tired to care anymore.

"Saryn?" Cassie asked again, and he smiled involuntarily at the sound of his name on her lips.

"I do not mind," he answered finally, and her fingers began to knead the too-tight muscles of his shoulders and upper back. He bit his lip to keep from crying out. It felt *good*--he hadn't realized how tense he really was until now.

"Thank you," he whispered, letting his eyes slide shut.

"Anytime," Cassie answered quietly. Her hands pressed against his back, warm and soothing, and he barely noticed as sleep stole in and claimed him.

***

*Her arms slid forward over his shoulders, and her hands began to run teasingly across his chest… As he turned his head toward her, she was there to kiss away his protests and press her body close, answering his unspoken need with a hunger of her own--*

He came awake with a start, sitting upright and staring around the Bridge with uncomprehending eyes. Cassie looked up from where she stood at the main scanner console and smiled at him. "You all right?"

He swallowed, aware of the swiftness of his own breath and the pounding of his heart. "I--I must have dozed off," he muttered, unable to meet her gaze.

"I figured as much," she said dryly. "It's okay; you haven't missed anything. Andros and TJ are inside the work bay, up on one of those catwalks we saw. They can see Zordon from where they are, but Andros is afraid he may be surrounded by some kind of anti-scan shielding. He and TJ are recalibrating the scanner now to make sure it doesn't set off any alarms when they turn it on the time warp."

"That is… good," he managed, watching her hands move over the console. *Gods,* he thought, frustrated with his inability to get his mind off of her. *Her teammates are over there, risking their lives for Zordon, and all I can think about is her.*

Cassie was frowning at him. "Are you sure you're okay?"

To his horror, she came out from behind the console and started to walk toward him. "Yes," he lied hastily. "I am fine."

She was not deterred. Coming to stand beside him, she laid a hand on his forehead, and he closed his eyes. "You feel a little warm," she said, and he tried to stifle a chuckle. That dream had been real enough to make his pulse race, and with her standing so close, "a little warm" didn't begin to describe it.

Her gentle kiss startled him, and his eyes flew open. "You looked like you needed it," she offered with a smile, by way of explanation.

*You have no idea,* he thought, staring into her eyes.

Something in his expression must have communicated itself to her, for her smile faded slowly. Leaning forward, she kissed him again, more seriously this time, and he tried very hard not to let it affect him.

But his efforts were in vain, and in moments he was returning her kiss--with far less control than he had planned. Her hands pressed against his shoulders, and he stood, drawn irresistibly closer to her as their lips melded together.

Far from objecting, she clutched his tunic and leaned into him, making his skin burn everywhere she touched. He let his arms slide around her, holding her tight against him as her tongue sought entry into his mouth. *If she's inexperienced,* the thought sprang unbidden to his feverish mind, *I may not survive once she knows what she's doing…*

The idea of teaching her made him tremble, and he ran one hand up her spine to caress her neck as their kiss intensified. She imitated his action, and he moaned, unable to believe how the simple touch drove him out of his mind. *Gods, she learns fast,* he thought, almost incoherently.

He knew he was out of control and didn't care--until she withdrew her hands and pushed against his chest. She looked down, effectively breaking their kiss, and he found himself kissing her forehead, her temple, anywhere she would allow.

"Please, stop," she whispered, pushing harder.

His body screamed at him not to listen to her, and he actually hesitated, hating himself for it even as it happened. Pulling away was the hardest thing he had ever done, but he managed, stepping back and clenching his hands at his sides to keep from reaching for her again.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, not lifting her eyes. "But I'm--" she was breathing as hard as he was, and she had to pause several times just to inhale. "I'm backup for… TJ and Andros, and… I should be monitoring them."

"I understand," he said, going to stroke her hair and stopping himself with an effort. "*I'm* sorry," he added. He swallowed hard, trying to ignore the urge to wrap her in his arms no matter her protests and never let go. "I should not have--gone so far."

"No--" She looked up at that. "It was my fault… you're tired, and I shouldn't have done that to you."

He closed his eyes on her appealing figure, not sure he could only look. "I *am* tired," he agreed, his frustration resurfacing. "I'm tired of missing you, Cassie. I'm tired of not being with you… and I'm tired of wanting you so much that when I *am* with you I can't think of anything else!"

When she didn't answer, he opened his eyes again, watching expressions flicker across her face almost too quickly to read. She was startled at first, then apology took its place--followed by one he had not expected to see: agreement. "I know," she said softly. "I feel like that, too."

*Then why?* his mind cried. *How could we let so much time pass without speaking?* But he knew why--because he had not believed she could love him. Because he had not trusted what he had seen in her eyes every time they met.

"Tonight?" she said, very quietly, looking up at him from beneath her eyelashes. She held her right hand up, open, in front of her.

His eyes widened as he realized what she was offering. "Tonight," he breathed, barely daring to believe what she was saying. He clasped her hand with his, and she leaned over their joined hands to kiss him lightly.

"Cassie!" TJ's voice over KERI's speakers made them both jump. He drew in an unsteady breath as she let go of his hand and hurried back to the scanner console.

"Something's wrong with Andros," the Blue Ranger hissed over the comm link, alarm in his tone. Cassie went to bring the interior visual back, all her attention now on her teammates as he tried to calm his heart and focus on the issues at hand.

When the main viewscreen flickered, it was suddenly easier--for there, in the shadows of a catwalk nearly buried against the work bay wall, the Red Ranger was on his knees, hands clutched to either side of his head. TJ was at his side, astroblaster out and ready as he glanced over his shoulder.

"What happened?" Cassie demanded, even as she instructed KERI to lock on to Andros's morpher.

TJ shook his head, turning so his back was to Andros and he could see in both directions down the catwalk. "I don't know! One minute he was fine, and then--"

"I'm bringing him back," Cassie cut him off. "I'll be over in his place in a moment, Teej."

"Right." TJ shot one more worried look at Andros before the sparkle of teleportation carried the Red Ranger away.

In a shower of red, Andros appeared on the Bridge, still hunched low to the floor. Phantom ignored the brief dizziness that abrupt motion caused to go to his side, falling to one knee to gaze into the Ranger's expressionless visor. "Andros?"

To his surprise, the red uniform disappeared instantly, and the look on the other's face was one of concentration, not pain. Eyes closed, hands still holding his head, Andros muttered, "It's Zhane…"

The words startled Phantom even more than Andros's appearance, for that was a name he had never thought to hear the Red Ranger speak again. He looked up as Cassie joined them, a frown on her face. "What's 'zhane'?"

He glanced back at Andros, but he did not seem inclined to reply. His eyes moved behind his eyelids, and Phantom could only wonder what the other Ranger was seeing. "Zhane was a friend of his, from KO-35," he told Cassie. "I had thought him dead for several years…"

Andros must have been aware of them, somehow, for as Phantom watched he shook his head slightly. "Not dead," he murmured. "Suspended. He's--he's waking up, now."

"How does he know?" Cassie whispered.

"Andros's people are selectively telepathic," Phantom answered quietly, looking up at her. "You did not know?"

Her wide eyes were answer enough for him. "No…" She glanced back at the screen. "I have to go--you'll make sure he's all right?"

Phantom nodded. "Of course." He touched Andros's shoulder briefly, then stood for a moment to look her in the eye. "Please be careful, Cassie."

"I will," she promised. "Cross your fingers for us."

The words were strange, but he understood the sentiment. "I have faith," he told her quietly.

She smiled. "Me too." She morphed before his eyes, and teleported out within seconds. He let himself watch her arrival on the other ship via the viewscreen, then turned back to Andros.

The Red Ranger's eyes were open and clear now--more than clear; they actually seemed a little too bright. When he saw Phantom looking at him, he stood, catching the console to steady himself. Phantom offered his hand automatically, but Andros shook his head.

"I'm all right. Zhane--" His gaze unfocused for a minute, and he stopped talking.

Phantom waited, not wanting to say anything until he knew what was happening. He recognized that particular look from times past, when Andros would speak mentally with his partner and closest friend. But Phantom had believed that bond severed by death two years ago, and he did not wish to bring up anything that could hurt the other Ranger.

"Zhane's awake," Andros said, and Phantom suddenly realized he was trying--for the second time today--not to cry.

"We finished the scanner modifications," Cassie's voice interrupted. "We're going to try it on Zordon's time warp now."

Phantom walked around the main scanner console, keeping an eye on Andros as he did so. Tapping a few commands into the control panel, Phantom spoke into the link that had activated as soon as Cassie contacted them. "KERI has a lock on both your morphers--if there is any trouble, we will be able to teleport you back here immediately."

"I thought you had faith," Cassie replied wryly.

"I do have faith," he retorted. "I also have a sense of paranoia that has kept me alive on more than one occasion."

He heard the smile in her voice as she conceded, "Fair enough."

She nodded to TJ, and the scanner swung across the work bay to zero in on the interdimensional time warp that sat at the heart of the vast chamber. Phantom found himself holding his breath as he waited for something to happen, and he saw Andros move around the console to join him.

After a seemingly interminable pause, the readout on the console in front of them started registering incoming data on the time warp. Phantom relaxed just a little, and made sure KERI was recording everything TJ's scanner transmitted to the Delta Megaship.

The readout staticked without warning, and Phantom leaned forward. "There is a problem with the data flow," he told them, just as TJ exclaimed quietly.

"The lava in Zordon's tube is interfering with our readings," the Blue Ranger muttered. "The evil energy already in the time warp is making it hard to get an accurate scan."

"Can you compensate?" Phantom asked, watching the data transfer slow as the readout flickered again.

"Yes," TJ's voice came back. "But it's going to be a minute before we know exactly what we're looking at."

Phantom took the opportunity to glance over at Andros again. The Red Ranger gave every appearance of paying attention, but there was something wrong about the way he was gazing at the uplink data. Then it dawned on him--Andros's eyes weren't moving. *He is not actually reading the information,* Phantom realized.

"How's Andros?" Cassie asked, and he smiled at the echo of his own thoughts.

Andros blinked at the sound of his name, and he looked up. "I'm okay," he told the air, but he did not elaborate.

There was a pause, and the background noise coming from the speakers was suddenly muffled. The scanner was at such an angle that he could see Cassie turn toward TJ, and when KERI's speakers still remained silent, Phantom knew what must have happened. Cassie had to have muted her communicator, and was no doubt relaying what little she knew of Andros's current state to her friend.

He shot a look in Andros's direction, wondering if he had noticed. The Red Ranger's glazed expression said he had not, but as Phantom watched, Andros refocused on him. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's been a long time since I've spoken this way, and it takes more concentration than it used to."

"It is all right," Phantom assured him. "Your friend--is alive?"

A smile crept across Andros's face, and he nodded incrementally. "He's alive."

Phantom recognized the signs of barely contained emotion in his longtime acquaintance, and he felt a return smile in his own expression. The console flashed "Data transfer complete" before he could say anything, though, and he turned his attention back to the other ship.

The comm link was abruptly unmuted, and Cassie's whisper came through loud and clear. "Are those what I think they are?"

Not privy to the conversation up to that point, Phantom assumed the comment had been directed at TJ. That assumption was confirmed a moment later, when TJ's voice answer grimly, "Teleportation locks."

Phantom brought up the specs that had just been uploaded to KERI's main data banks. As the others had observed, there were four teleportation locks attached at intervals to Zordon's tube--more than enough to keep the interdimensional being confined to a single point in space-time.

"We have to take them out," Cassie stated, looking away from the scanner to gaze out across the work bay.

"No kidding," TJ agreed wryly. "But the question is whether Zordon has enough power left to teleport out of there once we do."

"Can the Delta Megaship teleport him if he doesn't?" Cassie wanted to know.

There was a pause while Phantom considered the logistics of that. "We have no suitable containment facilities here," he said at last. "KERI, what is the nearest planet with an active time warp?"

"The planet closet to our present location with the ability to support interdimensional visitors is Aquitar," the computer replied calmly.

Phantom winced. *Aquitar is a long way from here.* "We might be able to get him there, but it will strain our systems--I suspect we will lose teleportation entirely."

No one spoke for a moment. They all knew what that would mean for the two Rangers still on board the alien ship. "For how long?" TJ asked finally.

"Indefinitely," Phantom answered. "You would need to return to the Delta Megaship before we attempted to teleport Zordon, or risk imprisonment by Divatox."

"But we can do that," Cassie said. "As soon as the locks are broken, we'll teleport back--there's no way Divatox's army can get the restraints back in place in the time it will take the two of us to return."

"*You* will not teleport back," Phantom said firmly. "*I* will teleport you, as soon as the locks are disabled. It is quicker and far less dangerous to rely on KERI than it is to do it yourself in the middle of a battle."

"All right," TJ said impatiently. "Then let's do it."

He and Cassie conferred for another few minutes, debating the best way to reach Zordon's time warp and disable the locks. Phantom contributed once or twice, but he could hear the efficiency of their interaction, and he was forced to admit that there was little more he could add.

"Okay," Cassie said finally, and TJ held out his open hand, chest high, to her. She clasped it, and Phantom's eyes widened. Minus the kiss, that was exactly the gesture Cassie had offered him earlier.

"Let's go." They nodded to each other and turned to face the work bay. Stepping forward, both Rangers flipped over the edge of the catwalk, leaping at least eight meters to the ground below.

Their action drew the attention of nearly every pirahnatron in the bay, but the two Rangers hit the deck running and made it a substantial distance before being intercepted. Even then, their momentum carried them through the first dozen or so soldiers, slowing only as they were overwhelmed.

*Another twenty meters,* Phantom guessed, watching the main screen intently. They would have to make it another twenty meters before they were within the optimal firing range of their astroblasters.

Though the two had planned to stay as close together as possible, Phantom could see Cassie slowly being forced away from her teammate. He was about to say something, for it was more serious than not having someone nearby to back her up. The two Rangers had only a ten meter corridor to either side of their current position, narrowing as they approached the time warp, before they were at such an angle that it would be impossible to hit all four of the locks.

Before Phantom could speak, though, TJ's axe appeared in his hand, and he yelled to Cassie to close up. She dove forward, hitting the ground in a roll that seemed to be a favorite move of hers. She came up with her Satellite Stunner in hand, and between their two weapons, she and TJ managed fight their way back together.

Back to back, the two Rangers took all comers, gaining ground slowly but certainly. The "slowly" part worried Phantom, though--the longer this took, the more time for Divatox to be informed and reinforcements to arrive.

Cassie knocked a quantron to the ground, and TJ turned, reaching out to her. Springing forward, she let him grab her waist and lift her off the ground. In what was obviously a well-rehearsed maneuver, he spun into his own attacker and she kicked with both feet, sending the fish being flying into another soldier.

She used her outward momentum and a little help from TJ to launch herself after the pirahnatron. But those in front of her cleared out of the way just a little too quickly, and Phantom saw the cargohauler coming through only a split-second before she did--not enough time for a warning.

TJ was there instead, knocking her out of the way. His arm was around the Pink Ranger's shoulders as they fell, and Phantom was suddenly aware of Andros's gaze on him. He wasn't sure when his hands had clenched into fists, but his tension was obvious to the other Ranger.

"They'll be all right," Andros said, quietly enough that it wouldn't carry over the open comm link.

Phantom nodded. "That's what I tell myself." He watched Cassie pull her fellow Ranger to his feet, and saw TJ put a hand on her shoulder before turning back to the pirahnatrons surrounding them. "But it is not what concerns me."

As soon as the words were out, he regretted them. What should concern him more than their safety, after all? But he couldn't help noticing the rapport between the two Rangers, a familiarity that he knew he didn't have with her. TJ's words haunted him again: "I've been there when she needed someone…"

"TJ?" Andros guessed, and the fact that he knew immediately what Phantom was talking about troubled him further. "They're best friends, Phantom; they have been since before I knew them. But that's all."

"So he says," Phantom agreed, knowing how jealous he sounded and hating it.

Andros shook his head. "If you don't trust her--what's the point?"

He looked away from the screen, startled, and Andros shrugged. "It's something Ashley would say," the Red Ranger said self-consciously.

Phantom thought about that, turning his gaze back to the battle taking place on the viewscreen. "She is wise," he said softly, after a moment.

Andros didn't answer, and Phantom looked sideways to see his gaze unfocused again and his face drained of all color. "What is wrong?" he demanded.

"Ash?" Andros whispered.

"What?" Phantom recognized the Yellow Ranger's nickname, but Andros had said it as though he were speaking to her.

Andros shook his head. His face was still pale, but his gaze was on the viewscreen again. "Nothing--I'll tell you later. Those two are going to need to come back *soon*."

Phantom let the contradiction pass as he followed Andros's gaze. "They are not close enough--"

He cut off as he saw Cassie raise her astroblaster. "She can *not* make that shot," he whispered, unable to believe she was going to try.

TJ kept the pirahnatrons at bay as she aimed, bracing the blaster on her left arm as she sited down the barrel. She fired, readjusted her aim, and fired again--Phantom could only stare as the two topmost teleportation locks were vaporized, leaving Zordon's tube unscathed.

"KERI," Andros snapped. "Lock onto the Blue and Pink astromorphers."

A single pirahnatron made it past TJ, slapping Cassie's astroblaster out of her hand. She dealt it a palm-heel strike that sent it to the floor, and leapt forward to knock another soldier away from TJ. "Cassie!" he shouted, and she looked up.

He tossed his own blaster in her direction, and she caught it out of the air with one hand. Once more, she counted on him to defend her, while her world narrowed to only target and trigger. TJ did not let her down.

Phantom watched in amazement as first one lock and then the next flared and vanished from the time warp's containment vessel. His hand shot out, hitting the control panel with the same accuracy that had just released Zordon from his imprisonment, and TJ and Cassie became colored comets' tails flitting across the void.

Even as the two reformed on the Delta Megaship's Bridge, Andros was reorienting KERI's teleportation lock. "Teleportation sequence ready," the onboard computer announced.

"Look!"

Phantom tore his eyes away from the console to look in the direction Cassie was pointing. "An energy surge has been detected within the enemy ship," KERI said, completely unnecessarily.

On the main viewscreen, now displaying an exterior view of the ship Cassie and TJ had just returned from, the signature glow of interdimensional teleportation was impossible to miss. White light fountained from the middle of the ship as goodness once more prevailed, streaking across the interstellar backdrop like a rainbow in search of a sky.

Then the flaring luminescence of Zordon's passage was gone. Cassie and TJ demorphed without ceremony, both still staring out at the stars. "He did it," Cassie whispered.

"We *all* did it," TJ said, clapping her shoulder. She smiled, and Phantom felt the jealousy stab at his heart again.

"KERI, turn this ship around," Andros said fervently.

"Yeah," TJ agreed, joining the Red Ranger. "Let's get out of here."

As the computer complied, and the viewscreen filled with starlines, Phantom felt Cassie's quiet presence at his side. He turned his head and found her regarding him with fond smile. In that moment, he was convinced she knew everything he had ever thought--and it was all forgiven. He fumbled for her hand, and she twined her fingers through his. 

_fin_


	17. Awakening

_Disclaimer: Saban created the Astro Rangers, and script writers took them through a two-season saga of space. Fanfic authors just carry on the insanity._

**Awakening  
by Starhawk**

An old, familiar, six-tone beep broke into Ashley's concentration, and she started. It had been a long time since she'd heard that sound, and though she'd missed it at first, the high-pitched noise now sounded out of place coming from her wrist.

Setting her morpher down, she tapped her old communicator. "What's up, Carlos?"

"I've almost got this camera up and running," he answered, his voice sounding more tinny than usual on the smaller speaker. "Mostly, I'm just bored. How are you doing?"

Ashley sighed, stretching. "I'm not sure. The rest of the equipment that was affected by the damping field started working as soon as we left it, but our morphers seem to be permanently damaged."

"Hmm," Carlos said noncommittally. Over the communicator, she heard the snap of metal clicking into place, and he said, "I was asking about you, actually. How do you feel?"

She shrugged, glancing down at the micropic she still held in her left hand. "Whatever DECA gave me must have worked, 'cause I'm not having any trouble with these tools." Her head throbbed as she refocused her eyes, and she winced. "The painkiller's wearing off, though."

"Well, go get some more," Carlos suggested. There was another pause, and she thought she heard the tiny whirring sound of the camera's motor. Then the Bridge's main viewscreen lit up, and there was Carlos, staring sternly out of the monitor. 

"Move along, young lady," he said, mimicking Principal Kaplan's voice, and Ashley dissolved into giggles.

"You got the camera working," she managed.

He grinned. "Yeah. Not bad, if I do say so myself."

"I don't know," she said, getting herself under control. "Isn't it against school policy to impersonate the principal?"

Carlos snorted. "What's vacation for, if not for making fun of everyone at school?"

*School.* Somehow, the word hit home in a way that the reminder of Kaplan had not. "Carlos," she said slowly. "What's today?"

He shrugged, looking puzzled by her sudden mood swing. "Wednesday, I think. Why?"

"No, I mean the date." Thinking back, she could call to mind only a vague impression of mid-August. Lost in the laziness of summer, she hadn't been paying attention to the passage of time, and since last weekend, she'd been too busy to care.

"On Earth, it is the nineteenth of August," DECA interjected.

Carlos whistled. "How did it get so late?"

"We go back to school in two weeks," Ashley said softly.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. *Time's running out for this kind of rescue mission,* she thought, wondering what they would do if the others did not manage to rescue Zordon, if he were still imprisoned come September.

*Or worse--what if Dark Spectre manages to drain all his Power by then?* With that kind of strength, the forces of evil would be nearly unstoppable, and she suspected Earth would be one of the first casualties. "School" would become a word with no meaning at all.

Just then, DECA broke into her musing again, this time with a non sequitur. "Aberration detected in the healing chamber."

Ashley frowned, her thoughts drawn abruptly back to the present. *The healing chamber?*

"What?" The confusion in Carlos's voice told her that it wasn't just her. "You mean the Medical bay?"

"There is an aberration in the healing chamber," DECA repeated. "Alert: life signs are fluctuating."

"*Whose* life signs?" Carlos demanded.

"That information is classified," DECA answered. "Aberration detected in the--"

"We know, we know," Ashley cut her off. "What are you talking about?"

"Alert," DECA replied calmly. "Life signs are fluctuating."

Carlos rolled his eyes. "I'm coming up there."

"No, Carlos, wait." Ashley leaned forward, setting the micropic down and tapping the console in front of her. Calling up the ship's schematics, she asked, "DECA, show me where the problem is."

The computer hesitated for a moment. Then, apparently deciding that Ashley's request did not violate any programming codes, DECA complied. A small area next to the engine room lit up, blinking red as DECA repeated, "Alert: life signs are fluctuating."

"Ash?" Carlos asked impatiently, obviously tired of listening to DECA's monotone.

Ashley squinted at the monitor, wondering if her vision was failing her again. Try as she might, she could see no lines or labeling around that blinking light. *But the rest of the schematic is perfectly clear,* she realized. *It can't be my eyes…*

"I have a location," she said at last. "But according to this, there's nothing there."

Carlos sighed. "Probably a malfunction."

"There is an aberration in the healing chamber," DECA reminded them. "Alert: life signs are fluctuating."

"On the other hand, I'm not listening to *that* for the rest of the afternoon," Carlos growled. "Let's go check it out."

"Right," Ashley agreed. "The indications I have put the--" she paused. "Aberration, I guess--right outside of the engine room."

"I'll meet you there," Carlos said, reaching up to terminate the video link.

Ashley nodded, and the screen went dark. She climbed to her feet carefully, breathing a sigh of relief when the room didn't spin. She made it to the door before her headache caught up with her again, and she paused a moment to squeeze her eyes shut. *Should have listened to Carlos,* she thought ruefully.

She forced herself to ignore it, making her way to the engine room with no worsening of the discomfort. She stopped outside, leaning against the doorway for just a second to press two fingers to each temple. She must have been there longer than she thought, for the next thing she knew, Carlos's concerned voice was asking her if she was all right.

She opened her eyes, realizing only then that they had been closed, and lowered her hands. "I'm okay," she said with what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "I should have taken your advice and gotten DECA to give me another painkiller."

"Alert," DECA interrupted for the tenth time, and Ashley winced.

Carlos glared at the nearest camera. "DECA--shut up."

DECA obediently fell silent, and Ashley sighed. "Thank you."

"No problem," Carlos said, with another dark look at DECA's camera. "Let's get you to the Medical bay so you can get something for that headache."

"No," she protested. "I want to figure out what DECA's so upset about first. I'll be okay, really."

Carlos nodded reluctantly, accepting her judgement. "Right. Let's find this 'aberration' quickly, then."

Ashley straightened, stepping away from the doorway and into the engine room. "The place DECA indicated on the schematics was in this direction…"

They headed left along the wall the engine room shared with the corridor. "There's no door in the hall outside," Carlos observed. "So if there's any way to get to this mysterious place, it has to be in here."

"Unless you come from above or below," Ashley pointed out, surveying the corner they now faced. There was no evidence of a door they might have overlooked these past months, indeed, no sign of any kind of opening at all.

"DECA, what's on the other side of this wall?" Carlos asked.

"That information is classified," DECA said primly. Apparently deciding that Carlos's question negated his earlier command, she continued to repeat her warning. "An aberration has been detected in the healing chamber."

"The healing chamber," Ashley repeated, before DECA could continue. "Is *that* what's behind this wall?"

"That information--"

"Is classified; yeah, we know," Carlos interrupted. "Look, DECA, if you don't tell us how to get in there, how are we supposed to fix this aberration?"

The computer seemed to consider that. "Andros is the only person authorized to enter the healing chamber," DECA told them at last.

Ashley sighed. "Well, he's not here, is he. If there's someone in there who needs help, we're the only ones who can give it."

There was a moment's pause. Then, without warning, a section of wall slid open, and dim lighting spilled out into the shadows of the engine room. Ashley glanced at Carlos, seeing the surprise on his face. Even she hadn't been completely convinced that DECA's alert was anything more than a computer glitch--after all, Andros had never said anything about a "healing chamber", and there was no reference to this place in the Megaship's databanks.

The proof was here in front of them, though, and she took a tentative step forward. When the movement didn't trigger any sort of alarm, she continued into the hidden room, feeling Carlos right on her heels.

A quiet beeping that no one could mistake for anything but a heart monitor reached her ears as soon as she entered, and she turned instinctively toward it. The only two objects in the room were a hexagonal tower that was clearly the source of the beeping, and what looked like some kind of medical stasis unit.

"That looks like the biostasis unit we used to have in the Power Chamber," Carlos said, echoing her thoughts.

She nodded, approaching the tower with trepidation. "It looks like there's someone alive in there."

"Life signs are fluctuating," DECA said, her voice overloud in the almost silent room. Ashley glanced over her shoulder, catching sight of the single camera mounted on the wall behind them.

"That's bad, right?" Carlos asked uncertainly.

Ashley shrugged, turning back to the tower, where a readout on the occupant's condition was displayed. "How would I know?" The beeping of the heart monitor was holding steady, but a display to its left was flashing red. "This is a lot more sophisticated than the one we used on Earth."

Suddenly, below the flickering display, a text readout appeared: "Auto healing deactivated." She exchanged worried looks with Carlos. The words vanished, to be replaced by: "Suspension terminating."

"Suspension terminating?" Carlos repeated. That was all they had time for before the seal on the translucent lid broke, and a hydraulic hiss sounded in the small room as the cover lifted away from the bottom of the unit.

***

_For the second time in less than five years, the colony world of KO-35 was burning. The defense force fought valiantly, but the fact was that they were merely postponing the inevitable. Even with the help of the Rangers, there would be barely enough firepower to cover the colonists' retreat._

But they would never give up. This planet, a little blue-green marble on the outskirts of League space, had become their home. It was so far from anywhere, even the other frontier worlds, that only its perfect climate had made it a viable target for colonization efforts--but those efforts had brought a select group of people here, and they would not surrender it without a fight.

They had run once. Once, a seemingly random attack had forced them to fight with the limited resources of a newly established colony. Too far from the League's official borders to get help in time, they had been forced to evacuate.

For four years, they had waited for a chance to go home. The recent victories over Dark Spectre had given them hope that they might finally achieve their dream--Elisia, Aron, and Calijyt had all repelled invasion attempts, and they had become rallying points for a counterattack. Dark Spectre was pushed back again and again, and reclaiming KO-35 had become a realistic goal.

This was the result. Dark Spectre had fallen back, all right, but not for long enough. The series of defeats had barely made a dent on his forces, and they came back stronger than ever. KO-35, once a random target, was now a matter of pride for the Monarch of evil, and he was determined to make it fall with the rest of the League's primary border.

The colonists knew it--but they weren't going to make it easy.

The defense force battled on even as fire ravaged their rebuilt cities, and pirahnatrons swarmed through the streets. A cheer went up as the last civilian transport soared by overhead, a fighter escort trailing it into the safety of hyperspace, but the fighting did not abate. They had abandoned their home once, and this was their chance to make the enemy pay before they had to do it again.

Two Kerovan Rangers fought side by side, augmenting the defense force tenfold. They knew they had no chance against these numbers--the border knew the tale of Elisia's team by heart--but it did not keep them from trying. The one in red plowed heedlessly through the ranks of pirahnatrons, distancing himself from his friend as he sought revenge for all the hurt in his life, and the silver-clad figure let him go. He had his own scores to settle.

But the two could never be truly separated, no matter the physical distance--Zhane heard Andros's cry echo in his mind even through the battle rage in his skull. He swung his blade in a violent arc that dispatched his opponent without another thought and spun around, searching for the telltale flash of red.

Andros was not far from his own position, knocked to the ground by one of the monsters Dark Spectre had loosed on the besieged planet. Zhane had vowed long ago that Andros was one friend he would never, *ever* fail, no matter what the cost, and this time was no exception. Even as the monster raised his weapon to deliver the killing blow, Zhane was at the Red Ranger's side.

With no time to move Andros, and no room to fight without injuring his friend, he threw himself forward. The blow that had been meant for Andros caught Zhane full in the chest, but his momentum carried him into the monster and he took the alien being with him as he fell.

The resulting explosion deafened him, but he heard Andros's scream in his mind as the world went dark around him. His last feeling was sorrow, his last coherent thought an apology. *Forgive me, my friend, for leaving you…*

*As so many others have before,* he thought into the freezing darkness. The chill was welcome after the heat that the explosion had sent tearing through his uniform, but as he clenched his hands--realizing as he did so that he could--he felt fingertips pressing against bare palms.

*Could the explosion have completely destroyed my uniform?* He immediately rejected that thought, for it was the nature of Ranger uniforms to regenerate--*my digimorpher.* Somehow, he must have lost it in the effort to take the monster down. That was the only thing that could account for his demorphed state.

Suddenly, it occurred to him to wonder how he was still aware. *I should be dead,* Zhane thought, blinking his eyes open. Or at least--*I must have been unconscious,* he realized. *Andros brought me back to Rayven, and I've been recovering here.*

The thought that he was no longer on KO-35--that it was, in all probability, several days after the attack that he remembered happening only seconds ago--was unsettling, to say the least. He reached out instinctively, seeking a familiar thought pattern.

It had been with him this whole time, from the beginning of the battle to the end, from the moment when his awareness had shifted from the field of combat to wherever he now found himself. The thoughts were subtly different now than they had been only moments before, but reminded himself that days had likely passed for Andros. Naturally he would be thinking differently than he had in the middle of the fighting.

*Andros?* Zhane asked, staring up at the translucence above him that was only now beginning to register. *What happened? Are you all right?*

There was a strange hesitation in the way his friend answered, as though he was being distracted, or was simply out of practice. Of course, that was ridiculous--Andros was the most focused person he'd ever met in his life. No one could distract *him*, and the thought that he was out of practice was equally laughable.

*I'm all right,* Andros answered at last. *How are *you*?*

Zhane frowned. Whatever this plastic was that had been positioned above him, he didn't like it. *Well, I'm in a coffin. Other than that, I feel fine.*

*Push up,* the thought came back. *It's designed to open from the inside.*

He did so, and the omnipresent hum, noticeable only in its absence, ceased as soon as he moved. Placing his hands against the lightweight plastic, he pushed, hearing something click as he applied pressure. Then the covering lifted away, and he blinked in the soft silvery luminescence that surrounded him.

He knew immediately that he was *not* on Rayven. For one thing, the lighting in every medical wing he'd ever been in was almost painfully bright. And for another, he knew every single person in the group that called KO-35 home by sight if not by name, and the two people standing over him were utterly unfamiliar.

*Andros.* He sat up, distantly surprised that he could do so with no twinge of pain. He didn't take his eyes off the strangers, noting that they were regarding him as warily as he was watching them. *Where am I?*

*I'm sorry,* Andros's voice replied instantly, as though he'd been expecting this question. *I wanted to be there when you woke up, to explain… You're on the Megaship.*

"Hi," the girl before him offered hesitantly, interrupting the conversation. She was beautiful, he thought, noticing her sparkling brown eyes and charming smile for the first time. "I'm Ashley," she said, holding her right hand out.

He ignored it, still studying her. She wore a Kerovan uniform--indeed, they both did--but there was a conspicuous lack of any type of morpher. *Who are *they*?* he demanded, projecting an image of the two in front of him. There was a moment's pause, and he tensed, ready to defend himself at a single word from Andros.

*They're--friends,* Andros answered at last.

He didn't understand, but if that was true, he owed these people some semblance of courtesy. A memory from a function on Eltare tugged at his memory, and he caught the girl's hand before she could withdraw it. Giving her his most endearing smile, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.

"I'm Zhane," he told the startled girl. "It's a pleasure to meet you." 

Letting go of her hand, he nodded to her companion. "Carlos," the other said, in what Zhane assumed was an introduction.

"Forgive my rudeness, earlier," he apologized to both of them. "You have to understand that I woke with no knowledge of where I am, or, to be blunt, who you are. But Andros says you're friends, so I'm sure you're trustworthy."

The two exchanged glances, and he wondered exactly where they had come from. Andros's teammates had given up the Power soon after they had come to Rayven, and Zhane couldn't believe that they had reclaimed their positions within the last few days. And the girl--

He looked more closely at her face. He had known Andros's younger sister indirectly, as the sibling his best friend was almost unnaturally fond of. She had joined the boys on several of their excursions when they were younger, but she had been abducted so long ago that he had trouble calling her features to mind. There was only one thing he was sure of: this was *not* Kerone.

"Andros?" the girl--Ashley--asked. "Andros told you that we're friends?"

*Andros, who's Ashley?* Zhane wanted to know, wondering what could have made his friend allow someone to take his sister's place. Andros had always been adamant about the yellow morpher--it was not to be used until Kerone returned to either claim or refuse it.

*Ashley…* The thought trailed off, and Zhane frowned.

"You're not his friends?" he asked, puzzled both by her reaction and Andros's hesitation.

"We are," Ashley hurried to assure him. "It's just that--" She looked to her friend for help.

"Ashley's my--girlfriend,* Andros said at last, and Zhane choked.

"Your girlfriend?" he exclaimed out loud, and Ashley blushed.

"Who are you talking to?" Carlos demanded.

"Andros, of course," Zhane told him. He had thought that had been obvious.

"How?" Ashley wanted to know, still looking a little uncomfortable. He shouldn't have embarrassed her like that, but Andros's words had startled him beyond politeness for a moment.

*I was only gone for two weeks!* He didn't mean to project the thought, but knew Andros had heard it anyway.

"Mental telepathy," he told Ashley with a smile. It surprised many people that he and Andros, outwardly so different, were close enough to share thoughts. "We've always been able to do it, ever since we were little."

*Zhane…* Andros's thought came right on top of Carlos's startled exclamation.

"Telepathy?" He gave Zhane and odd look, shooting another glance in Ashley's direction.

*It's been a lot longer than you think,* Andros continued, oblivious to Zhane's distraction.

*What do you mean?* Zhane asked, giving Carlos a strange look of his own. "Of course, telepathy." He held his hands out to his sides, emphasizing the absence of his digimorpher.

*Zhane--the attack on KO-35 was two years ago.* Andros's mental voice was soft, but his words were impossible to ignore. *You were hurt in the explosion, so badly I didn't think you'd ever recover. You've been in hypersleep ever since.*

If Zhane hadn't already been sitting, his knees would have given out on him. "Two *years*?" he whispered incredulously.

"Hey," Ashley said, stepping closer with a concerned look on her face. "Are you all right?"

He looked up at her in total noncomprehension. "I've been asleep for two *years*?"

She sat next to him, motioning her friend to his other side. "Is that--did Andros tell you that?"

Zhane nodded slowly, trying to reorient himself. Two years…

*I'm sorry,* Andros said again. *I wanted to be with you when you woke up.*

"Well, if Andros said it, it's true," Ashley said with such conviction that he knew she believed every word, and Zhane couldn't help but smile a little.

"You have a lot of faith in him," he observed, scrutinizing her calm expression as she nodded.

*I see what you like about her,* he told his friend.

*Yeah, well, don't get any ideas,* Andros retorted, and Zhane's smile widened.

*I don't think you have anything to worry about,* he assured the other. *Her eyes light up every time someone says your name. I wouldn't have a chance--not that I would try,* he added hastily, hoping Andros hadn't taken that the wrong way.

*I know,* Andros replied. *Are you all right now? We'll head back as soon as we can, but we're sort of in the middle of something.*

Zhane couldn't help but notice Andros's use of "we". Since when had the Kerovan team been reformed? He was careful not to let Andros overhear the thought, but he couldn't help the faintest twinge of jealousy. He had been all Andros had for years--sharing his best friend was going to take some getting used to.

*I'm all right,* he promised, letting the telepathic bond fade a little. *Let me know when you're on your way back…*

He heard Andros agree, and then there was nothing but the subtle awareness of his friend's presence in the back of his mind. Ashley was watching him carefully, and he gave her and Carlos his full attention, figuring that he was going to have to get to know them at some point.

"You were talking to Andros just now, weren't you," Ashley said. Despite her words, it was more of a statement than a question. 

He nodded, feeling Carlos shift on his other side. The other boy seemed far more suspicious of him than she did, possibly because of his obvious protectiveness toward Ashley. "Yes--he says he's in the middle of something?"

"That's one way to put it," Ashley agreed, glancing at Carlos. Those glances were really starting to bother him--every time they exchanged looks, it reminded him of just how much he didn't know. "How do you--talk to him like that?"

With that question, another piece of the puzzle clicked into place. "You're not Kerovan." He felt silly as soon as he said it--of course they weren't--but the fact had not really registered until now.

"No," Ashley agreed. "We're from Earth."

"But you are human," he said, just to make sure. They looked it, but appearances could be deceiving.

She smiled. "KO-35 isn't the only place where humans live."

Carlos chuckled at that, and Zhane couldn't help feeling that he had missed some private joke. Ashley must have noticed his confusion, for she apologized. "Sorry about that--it's something Andros said once about Earth. I've been waiting for a chance to get him back, and I guess I took it out on you."

Zhane smiled warmly at her. "I'm guessing he didn't say it as politely as you did, then."

"No," Carlos agreed. "He certainly didn't."

"But you were saying," Ashley prompted, dragging the conversation back to her original question. "About telepathy?"

Zhane shrugged. "It's just something we can do. I don't really know what to tell you."

"Like telekinesis?" Carlos suggested, and Zhane looked up in surprise.

"Andros uses his telekinesis in front of you?"

"Yeah," Ashley said. "He does it all the time."

Carlos shifted again. "I wouldn't say 'all the time'. Once in a while, maybe."

Ashley cocked her head. "Really? Maybe you just don't notice anymore--he uses it a lot. Did you see him this morning at breakfast?"

"The ketchup?" Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Sure. But before that, I hadn't seen him use it for days."

"No way," Ashley protested.

Zhane watched, amused, as they argued. It was obvious to him what was happening, but they couldn't seem to see it. Around Ashley, Andros used telekinesis "all the time", while around Carlos, it was an infrequent occurrence. 

He grinned. His friend was showing off for a girl. *Never thought I'd see the day,* Zhane mused.

"Anyway," he said, breaking into what was rapidly becoming a heated debate, "telepathy isn't really the same as telekinesis. You can practice telepathy, and get better at it, but the connection has to exist already. You can't do it with just anyone; you have to think alike to a certain extent for it to work."

"So," she said slowly, the previous argument forgotten, "if I were going to talk to Andros that way, what would I do?"

Zhane hesitated, seeing the seriousness of her expression. "It doesn't work for everyone," he repeated at last. "It happens or it doesn't--it's not something you can just decide to do."

"You can," she pointed out.

"But Andros and I have been talking that way since we were little," Zhane said, not sure how to disillusion her without hurting her. "Most people can only do it with a very small number of people--Andros is the *only* one I can talk with telepathically."

Ashley sighed. "I understand. I'd just like to try, even if it doesn't work."

"She can do telekinesis," Carlos interjected unexpectedly. 

"Really?" Zhane looked at her with interest, and she blushed.

"Andros has been teaching me," she murmured.

If hearing that Andros used his telekinesis in front of them had surprised Zhane, the fact that Andros had been *teaching* someone astonished him. His friend had grown more and more reluctant to move things telekinetically after his sister had been kidnapped, to the point where he would get up and walk across an empty room rather than summon an object to him mentally.

During those first few weeks on Rayven, Zhane had not been sure Andros was still using the skill at all. One evening, though, he had found the other Ranger alone, staring at the old telekinesis ball he had used when he was younger. Sensing his friend's sadness, he had tried to lighten the mood by snatching it out of Andros's hands and tossing it into the air, letting it expand as it went.

Andros had whirled, anger written all over his face, and the ball had slammed to the ground behind him. Startled, Zhane had stammered an apology, and Andros, to his infinite surprise, had burst into tears. Not knowing what else to do, Zhane had walked into the room and hugged his friend hard.

They had stayed together until Andros calmed down a little, and ever since, Zhane had been the only one Andros would consciously use telekinesis around. But he had *never* offered to teach another person after his sister, and Zhane had known better than to ask.

"All right," he agreed at last, the memory fading as he regarded her determined expression. "I'll tell you what I know--but don't be surprised if nothing happens."

He didn't mean to sound so discouraging, but the fact was that the chances of her actually making Andros hear her were practically nil. He wasn't even sure how to explain what they did. How did you teach someone to speak, after all?

But she looked so eager that he couldn't say no. "The way it was explained to me was as a kind of focus," he said, thinking back to the lessons they had been given when it was discovered they were communicating without speaking.

Even as he remembered, though, he realized this couldn't work. He had always been aware of Andros on some level, in some part of his mind, even when he was thinking about something else entirely. And it was that awareness that the two of them had been trained to use and talk through. As he had told Ashley before, you either had it or you didn't.

He tried to explain anyway, suspecting she would not be satisfied with that answer. "If telepathy is a sense, like vision," Zhane told her, "then talking to someone is like reading. The person you're talking to is the book, and you have to narrow your focus to just them. Their thoughts are the storyline, and in order to be able to understand them, you have to know what's happened before in the book."

She looked puzzled, but not frustrated. "Telepathy isn't like speaking out loud," he said, trying a different comparison. "When you talk to, say, Carlos here, the words you use all have the same meaning. Even if you'd never seen Carlos before in your life, you could understand what he was saying--assuming you were speaking the same language.

"With telepathy, it's not the same at all. Thoughts aren't absolute, the way words are, and the only way you can understand another person's thoughts is by understanding the *person*." 

He stopped, seeing her frown. "I'm not explaining this very well, am I."

"I think I see what you mean," Carlos said, surprising him. "But I still don't understand how you do it."

Zhane sighed. "It's not really something you understand--it's just something you *do*. When you first started talking, did you understand how you were doing it, or did you just make noise until you said something that someone understood?"

Ashley had closed her eyes, he realized suddenly. She looked as though she was concentrating, so he said nothing more, waiting for her to give up.

Her eyes flew open at exactly the same moment that he heard Andros yelp, *Zhane! What's going on?*

Zhane's eyes widened. *She couldn't have…* But Ashley looked pale, even in the washed out lighting of this spartan room, and from Andros's startled exclamation, he suspected his friend was in much the same state.

"What?" Carlos demanded, seeing them lock gazes. "What happened?"

"I'm… not sure," Zhane said, still staring at Ashley. "Did you--hear something?"

"I could have sworn I heard Andros," she breathed.

*Zhane,* Andros repeated insistently. *I know Ashley's voice, and *that* was Ashley. *What* is going on?*

"He heard you too," Zhane told Ashley ruefully, putting a hand to the side of his head. "And I'm getting an earful about it."

*She wanted to know how I was talking to you,* he tried to explain. *And then she wanted to try it--*

*It's okay,* Andros answered, cutting him off, and he felt his friend's attention shifting. Something was taking the Red Ranger's full attention, and Zhane stopped talking to let him concentrate.

"Did I distract him?" Ashley asked worriedly.

"I think 'distract' would be an understatement," Zhane told her wryly. "He says it's all right, but he's trying to focus on something else right now."

Ashley looked chagrinned. "I didn't think it would work," she murmured apologetically.

"Oh, don't worry about it," he said lightly, trying to cover his own worry over what could be taking so much of Andros's attention. "Andros can use a little shaking up."

Sliding off the surface on which he had woken up, he added, "Let's get out of this closet. I want to see what Andros did to my room in all this time."

Ashley jumped off the stasis unit as well, laughing. "I'm sure it's just the way you left it. Did you stay on the Megaship often?"

He stopped suddenly, staring at her. "I *live* here--well, I used to." The two years he had been unconscious crashed home once more, and he wondered what else had changed in that time.

She looked a little taken aback, but she covered it up quickly. "Well, let's go look around. You can tell us everything, and we'll try and catch you up."

The sincere smile she flashed in his direction kept her words from being condescending, and he agreed. She bounced forward to take his arm, and he sensed her friend flanking him on the other side, almost like an honor guard--*or a prison watch.* He shook the thought away and let Ashley lead him out of the dim illumination and into the heart of the Megaship.

***

"He's the Silver Ranger," Andros was telling them, as the Delta Megaship set down. "We were a team for almost four years, until KO-35 was attacked during the recolonization attempt. He's been healing in hypersleep ever since."

"Why didn't you tell us?" TJ wanted to know, shutting the engines down.

The thrusters went offline a moment later, but Andros didn't turn around. "You never asked," he said simply.

TJ gave Cassie a wry glance, and she rolled her eyes. *And what were we supposed to say?* he wondered rhetorically. *Hey, Andros, you don't happen to have anybody hanging around the ship in cryogenic stasis, do you?*

Granted, the near-death of your best friend wasn't something that came up over breakfast. But the possibility of a sixth Ranger awakening on the Megaship did seem important enough to warrant comment by Andros at *some* point.

Before he could press the issue, though, Andros warned them, "I'm teleporting us off the Delta Megaship."

The desert shimmered into view around them as they reformed just outside the Megaship's ramp, and TJ had to wonder if Andros had something against ship-to-ship teleportation. Then he heard Cassie's wordless exclamation, and he turned to see Phantom, eyes closed, suddenly leaning heavily on her.

Andros went to help support him, and TJ unclipped the scanner from his belt. It had a medical mode--not much more than first aid diagnosing ability, but sufficient for emergencies. He turned it on Phantom. The other Ranger tried to protest, but Cassie shushed him.

TJ raised an eyebrow at the readout. *That's one that never occurred to us,* he thought, almost amused by the diagnosis.

"I am only tired," Phantom said, but TJ shook his head.

"No, you're not." He turned the scanner around so the others could see it. "You're hypoglycemic. Low blood sugar," he clarified, when no one said anything. "When did you last eat?"

He heard Cassie try to stifle a laugh. "Should have thought of that," she muttered, a smile on her face despite her best efforts.

Andros looked up suddenly. "Zhane's on his way," he murmured. Then, realizing that all eyes were on him, he added, more loudly, "Ashley and Carlos are with him."

"Well, I don't want to be rude or anything," Cassie began, "but would your friend be terribly offended if Phantom and I weren't here to meet him?"

Even as Andros shook his head, Phantom objected, "I can find my own way to your Glider holding bay. There is no need for you to come with me, Cassie."

"Oh, yes there is," she told him sharply. "With your luck, you'll faint on your way there and we won't even know until we go to have dinner ourselves."

Phantom finally agreed, and TJ couldn't help grinning. Cassie had no qualms about bullying their headstrong ally into doing whatever she wanted. And it worked, every time--he wondered if she realized the power she wielded, for it was obvious there was nothing she couldn't talk Phantom into.

The two disappeared into the Megaship while TJ and Andros waited outside for the others. TJ still didn't know quite what to make of Andros's newly revealed telepathy, but he couldn't miss the fact that Andros looked up several seconds before Ashley's voice echoed down the hallway.

It was only moments later that their teammates appeared at the top of the ramp. Carlos settled for a cheerful wave, but Ashley ran down the ramp toward Andros with enviable abandon. She stopped just short of throwing herself into his arms, and looked delighted when he pulled her into a fierce hug anyway.

TJ smiled, looking away from them and back toward the Megaship. A blond-haired boy joined Carlos on the ramp, blinking in the bright sunlight, and TJ assumed that this was the Zhane they had heard nothing about until today. 

Dressed in a black version of the Astro Rangers' own uniforms, with a silver-gray shirt beneath his jacket, Zhane smiled at the couple at the bottom of the ramp. "It's about time you found a girl," he opined, just loudly enough for Andros to hear.

TJ raised an eyebrow, shifting his gaze to meet Carlos's. He wasn't sure how he expected Andros to respond to the jibe, but it certainly wasn't with a retort of his own.

"That's a good one, coming from you," Andros shot back, keeping an arm around Ashley's shoulders as he gazed up at his friend. "The person who can't make any relationship last for more than two weeks!"

Carlos ducked his head, obviously trying to hide laughter. Zhane grinned, not at all fazed by the accusation, and TJ was amazed to see an answering smile on Andros's face. The Red Ranger stepped away from Ashley and walked up the ramp, and Zhane turned to face him.

For an instant, the two just stood there, looking each other over. The setting sun cast a surreal glow over everything, framing the two warriors in the Megaship's main hatch and bathing them in a crimson radiance.

Then the moment was gone, as Andros held out his right arm in a movement that was immediately echoed by Zhane. Then it was left forearm to left forearm, and two more side blocks that Zhane also copied, looking like nothing so much as a little kid's secret handshake when it ended with their clasped hands. 

But it made Andros laugh, and for a second, TJ saw the Red Ranger as he must once have been. The aloof leader was gone, and in his place stood a boy delighting in the presence of his best friend--a friend who had been gone for far too long.

_fin_


	18. New Ground

_Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, nor do I write for the show. But if I did, there would be less fighting and more romance ::grin:: Love makes the world go 'round._

**New Ground  
by Starhawk**

Ashley took a deep breath, leaning against the wall of the Medical bay. Closing her eyes, she slid down the wall to sit on the floor, drawing her knees up to her chest. *Why didn't he tell us?* she wondered, waiting for her second pain reliever to take effect.

Distracted by Zhane's awakening, she hadn't gotten around to taking care of her headache, and it had only intensified over the course of the last hour. She had endured it as long as she could, for she had loved watching Andros with Zhane. Well--she loved watching Andros, no matter what the circumstances… but around Zhane, he was almost a different person.

She had never seen him so comfortable with another person. He was usually more relaxed in her company alone than when they were with any of the others, but there were still times when he would close up on her. She had known that she couldn't expect him to change overnight, and that it would probably be some time before he would tell her what was on his mind when that inscrutable look came into his eyes without her having to ask.

But with Zhane, there *were* no inscrutable looks. Anyone could see what Andros was feeling when he introduced his friend--sheer happiness. It was a happiness that did not seem to abate even slightly, no matter how long they all stood around talking or what the subject of conversation.

She had finally excused herself, when the pounding in her head became too intense to ignore, and had felt warm inside when Andros turned a concerned look on her and asked if she was all right. But when she left, he was still there, talking to Zhane, and it had suddenly troubled her that he seemed more comfortable around this friend that he hadn't seen for two years than he did around her.

Ashley sighed, knowing she shouldn't be upset--this was how she had always wanted to see Andros, after all. And he and Zhane had obviously known each other longer than any of the current Rangers… she had no right to be jealous. 

*But why didn't he *tell* us?* she couldn't help wondering again. She didn't understand why he would keep such a thing a secret. *Doesn't he trust us?*

And what role had Zhane played in Andros's life, anyway? Andros had introduced him as a Ranger, but only a few days ago, he had told the team that he had been the only Kerovan Ranger who kept his powers after KO-35 had been abandoned. 

*Who *is* Zhane?* Ashley wondered, pressing her fingers to her temples in an effort to dull the pain in her head. It didn't help, and a wave of loneliness washed over her.

It was easy to be unreasonable, she reminded herself, even paranoid, when you were hurting. As a Ranger, she'd had a lot of experience with the phenomenon, and she tried to tell herself that everything would look better when her headache went away.

But she couldn't help wishing that Andros would walk in and find her there. He'd apologize, and hug her, and everything would be all right…

*Ashley,* she told herself firmly, *get a grip. He and Zhane probably have a lot to talk about, and they don't need you interrupting.* In fact, she supposed that the best thing she could do would be to find a way to get TJ and Carlos away from the Red Ranger so he could spend some time with his friend alone.

"DECA," she said, opening one eye to see the light on DECA's camera come on, "where are Carlos and TJ?"

"Carlos and TJ are on the Bridge," DECA answered, and Ashley opened the other eye. 

*That's odd,* she thought, wondering what they were doing. "Where's Andros?"

"Andros and Zhane are on deck five," the computer informed her.

*Guess I don't have to worry after all.* Ashley debated her next move. She didn't really feel like standing up, but on the other hand, she *was* hungry, and she knew whatever DECA had given her would start working soon.

So she pulled herself to her feet and headed out into the hallway. Sure enough, she could feel the sharp edge of the pain dulling as the lift carried her to the Megaship's sixth level. As she walked toward the holding bay, she rubbed her temples one last time, in an attempt to hurry the headache's departure.

Distracted by her own thoughts, it didn't occur to her who would be in the Glider holding bay already. There was no sound to alert her, and she walked through the doors without thinking.

Cassie and Phantom sat side by side at the single table, far too close for just friends. Her right arm was linked with his, and their clasped hands rested on the table between their plates. The only way they were accommodating the situation was by having Cassie eat left-handed, which Ashley happened to know she was not.

As she watched, Cassie leaned a little closer to Phantom and gestured at something on his on his plate. He smiled, shaking his head and murmuring something Ashley couldn't quite hear. It must have been an invitation, for Cassie reached over and took some of whatever it was he had been eating.

Ashley turned away from the unbearably romantic scene, not sure she could face it with the current state of her own confused emotions. The two were so engrossed in each other that they hadn't even noticed her standing in the doorway, but before she could make good her escape, Carlos and TJ emerged from the Bridge.

She sighed. Even as she was wondering if there was any chance she could get out of sight before they saw her, Carlos looked up.

"Hey, Ash!" he called cheerfully, and she forced a smile in return.

"Hi," she answered. "What's up?"

He shrugged, and the two of them headed in her direction. "We figured Andros and Zhane had a lot to talk about, so we went to the Bridge to see what we're looking at for repair work."

"That was nice of you," Ashley murmured.

"Ash, are you all right?" TJ asked, his tone curious and his expression worried as they joined her in the doorway.

"Yeah," she said hurriedly, realizing her smile had slipped. "I just have a killer headache; sorry."

He put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a sympathetic look as he guided her into the holding bay. "No need to apologize," TJ told her, and Carlos joined them on her other side.

"Did you get something from DECA for it?" he asked, and she nodded, feeling a small but real smile on her face this time. Her feeling of loneliness was just that, after all--a feeling. Her friends would never stop caring about her, and she had been silly to think they would.

"Hi guys," Cassie greeted them, and Ashley noticed that she and Phantom had separated, putting a more reasonable distance between them.

"Hey," TJ answered, and Phantom nodded to them as they entered.

She still found his unmorphed form disconcerting, but she tried not to let it show. She did wish she knew what had prompted the change, though--Phantom had *always* stayed morphed in their presence, even when they were not.

"Ash, sit down," Carlos told her, and she realized that she had been standing, motionless, in the middle of the room. "I'll get you something to eat."

"No, sorry," she said, flustered. "I was just--thinking."

"Well, think sitting down," he suggested with a smile.

She tried to protest, but TJ was returning from the Synthetron at that point. Setting his plate and tumbler down on the table, he took her arm and dragged her onto one of the stools. "Sit," he said sternly, and she gave in.

"What's wrong?" Cassie asked, pausing to look intently at her.

Ashley tried to smile. "I just don't feel so great; that's all."

"Oh," Cassie said sympathetically. "It's been a long day--and you have a concussion…"

Ashley shrugged, not wanting to be the center of a pity party. "I say we take the evening off," Carlos opined, sliding a plate in front of her. He put a glass down next to her left hand, and she smiled at the contents.

*How does he know?* she wondered, picking it up and taking a sip. Then Carlos was gone again, getting his own dinner, and TJ seconded the motion to have some time off.

"We've been running all day," he reminded them, as though any of them needed to be convinced. "Let's just have dinner and take a few hours to relax."

"No argument here," Cassie agreed. "Ash?"

Surprised, Ashley looked up. "Well--I'm up for some repair work this evening," she told them, not really wanting to be the one to make the decision, and TJ groaned.

"Ashley," Carlos told her patiently as he sat down, "the appropriate response is, 'Sure, guys, that sounds great.'"

Ashley felt another real smile on her face. Even if they were only doing this for her, they were doing it in such a nice way that she couldn't refuse. "Sure, guys," she said at last. "That sounds great."

Carlos grinned at her. "That's the spirit."

"Phantom?" TJ asked, and she looked over at the unmorphed Ranger.

It hadn't even occurred to her to include him--frankly, she was amazed that he hadn't left as soon as the others joined him and Cassie at dinner. He had always been infamous for his disappearing act, and she hadn't expected him to stay on the Megaship this long, let alone eat with them.

He nodded slowly, and for once, he didn't glance at Cassie. Ashley noticed with interest that Cassie was avoiding his gaze too, and she wondered what was going on.

There was a pause, while they waited to see if he would say anything. He didn't, and Ashley suddenly realized that Phantom had just been maneuvered into a corner. By adding his input, silent though it was, on whether to work on repairs tonight, he had committed to helping with them. 

*Which means that he's staying at least another day…* She wondered if TJ had meant for that to happen, or if it had just been an unexpected side effect of the conversation.

"Good," Carlos said, breaking into the quiet as though it didn't exist. "We're unanimous--as soon as we convince Andros."

The way Cassie looked up, her eyes fixed on a point beyond Ashley's shoulder, made Ashley sure of what she would see before she turned. Andros stood in the doorway, watching them.

There was another uncomfortable pause, but before anyone could say anything, Andros locked gazes with her. "Ashley… Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," she said immediately, putting her fork down and jumping up. Her heart had lightened as soon as she caught sight of him, but the solemn expression on his face made her nervous. *What could he have to tell me that the others can't hear?* she worried, following him out into the hallway.

She gave him a questioning look, and he motioned her farther from the door. "Andros?" she asked quietly, complying.

He took a deep breath, clasping his hands in front of him and then releasing them. She looked down, watching him fidget, then glancing back at his face. "Andros, what's wrong?"

"Ashley--" He stopped, staring at her. She waited, and finally he blurted out, "I love you."

She looked at him in amazement, feeling a smile spread across her face. As quickly as that, her depression was gone and she felt elation filling her in its place. "I love you too," she whispered, gazing into his eyes.

He sighed, and she could see tension draining out of him. "You don't know how happy it makes me to hear you say that," he told her, and she reached down and took his hands.

"I do," she assured him quietly, "because I feel the same way when you say it."

He smiled at last, squeezing her hands. "I wanted to say it all day yesterday, and when we woke up together this morning, I almost told you then."

"Why didn't you?" Ashley wanted to know, smiling up at him. She remembered waking up and seeing him watching her--*she* had almost said those words right then, but she hadn't, for fear of him withdrawing from her again.

"I couldn't," he said, shrugging uncomfortably. "I was afraid--you didn't feel the same way. I didn't… I didn't want to ruin what we already had."

Unable to resist any longer, she let go of his hands and threw her arms around him. "Me too," she admitted softly. "I've wanted to tell you I love you for a long time, but I didn't want to lose your friendship."

She felt him tense a little. "Such as it was," he whispered, a strange note in his voice.

She pulled back, wanting to see his face. "What do you mean?"

Andros's eyes were sad. "I liked you so much," he said softly. "And I was so--" She could see him struggling for a word. "I was so horrible to you," he said, and she bit her lip to keep from laughing. It was a word she would have used, but not one that she'd ever heard Andros say.

"What?" he asked, in all innocence, and she couldn't bring herself to tell him that he sounded like her.

"You weren't horrible," she protested instead, and he shook his head.

"That's nice of you to say, but I was." He looked at her as though he could see straight into her soul. "You're so different, so--so wonderful… I couldn't help wanting to be around you, but I didn't want to depend on anyone. So I kept pushing you away--but you wouldn't *go* away."

She blushed, looking down. "I can be a little pushy sometimes."

"No," he disagreed without hesitation. "You're everything I ever wanted…" He looked down, looking embarrassed himself. "That sounds really silly."

Charmed, she touched his cheek, making him look up again. "No," she echoed. "It's beautiful." Leaning forward, she gave him a quick kiss. "I love you, Andros. I always have… and--" She breathed in, wondering if she should tell him. "I think I always will."

"I--" He looked at her with wide eyes, and she felt a flash of panic. But then his lips quirked upward, and he brushed her hair away from her face gently. "I'd like to find out," he whispered.

She closed her eyes, feeling joy well up inside her, too strong to shut out and too intense not to share. But before she could speak, she felt his lips press gently against hers, and she relaxed into his arms without a second thought.

When his mouth left hers, she kissed him in return, not wanting the moment to end. She couldn't believe it when he didn't pull away, and she smiled involuntarily, unable to contain her happiness. That effectively ended their kiss, but the answering smile on his face was worth it.

"Thanks, Ashley," he told her quietly.

She looked at him in surprise. "For what?"

"For being the best thing that's ever happened to me," he said simply.

"Thank *you,*" she whispered, wondering how she could have ever doubted him. "Just--for being here."

At that, he winced. "I hate to say this… but that's what I came to talk to you about."

She smiled. "Well, after a beginning like that, I can take just about anything." Taking a deep breath, she tried to get her brain to switch from being hopelessly in love to something that approached reason. "What's up?"

Andros didn't help by reaching out and stroking her cheek. "I'm really sorry--I wish I didn't have to do this right now…"

"Tell me, before I start to worry," she chided him gently.

He let go of her and squared his shoulders, but she wasn't sure if he was bracing himself for his own words or her reaction. "I have to leave for a little while."

She stared at him in disbelief. "No… Andros, why?"

"It's Zhane," he told her quietly, and she swallowed. *Of course…* 

She shook her head, ashamed of the thought. Zhane was his friend, and he had just woken up from what was essentially a two-year coma. He *needed* Andros in a way she didn't--it was pure selfishness that made her want Andros with her instead.

"He needs to see familiar faces," Andros was saying. "He needs to see how are people are now, instead of the way he remembers them, or he won't be able to move on."

Ashley nodded reluctantly, seeing the truth of that. "But KO-35 was abandoned," she said, searching his face for confirmation.

"Our people refused to be split up," he told her quietly. "The entire colony was relocated to a moon deeper inside League territory. KO-35 will never stop being our home, but we've been on Rayven for almost six years now."

"So you're going to Rayven," she guessed, and he nodded.

There was a pause, and she had to ask the question that had been troubling her ever since the hidden door in the engine room had popped open. "Andros--why didn't you tell us about Zhane?"

He looked away, not speaking for a moment. "A little more than two years ago," he said at last, "we thought we had a chance to return to KO-35. It looked like Dark Spectre was in retreat, and Eltare approved our attempt to recolonize the planet. We started shipping supplies, temporary shelters, and people--mostly soldiers--back home.

"We were wrong. Eltare was wrong. It doesn't really matter who you blame," Andros said, a trace of the old bitterness in his voice. "Dark Spectre attacked three months later, and it fell to me, Zhane, and the soldiers to defend our second evacuation from KO-35."

"But--" Ashley didn't want to interrupt, but she was afraid she wouldn't get another chance. "You said… the other Kerovan Rangers gave up their powers."

"They did," Andros said softly. "Zhane found out, and didn't want me to fight alone. He was offered the black astromorpher, but he turned it down and went on his own quest for the Power. He--was successful, and we fought side by side for four years, until that day on KO-35."

She heard his hesitation, but he said nothing more about Zhane's powers, and she deemed it wiser not to ask. "The colonists were in full retreat, and I let anger get the best of me," he continued in a voice barely above a whisper. "Zhane saw me fall. He ran to help, and he saved my life--at the cost of his own.

"Or so I thought," Andros added, his eyes bright with unshed tears as he met her gaze at last. "I thought he was dead. Even when I put him in stasis--I never thought he'd recover. But having him there made me feel like I didn't have to say goodbye just yet…"

"I understand," she said, trying to ignore the urge to wrap him in a hug and hold him until that sadness was gone from his face. *You wouldn't tell people about someone you didn't think you'd ever see alive again…*

"But he *is* alive," she reminded him fiercely, squeezing his shoulder. "He's alive and he's healed, and you didn't have to say goodbye after all."

He tried to smile. "I did, though. I must have said goodbye a hundred times… He was my best friend. He was the one who kept me going on Rayven, the one I could say anything to and know he wouldn't hate me--the one who backed me up every time I needed help. I never thought I could live without him… but I kept trying."

"And now you don't have to," she said softly, but he shook his head.

"I have no idea how this is going to work out," he admitted. "He may not even want to stay on the Megaship anymore. And if he does… I don't know. We'll have to figure it all out, somehow."

"You're not alone anymore, Andros," she reminded him. "When you come back from Rayven, if Zhane comes with you, we'll *all* help him adjust."

Her hand still rested on his shoulder, and he reached up to cover it with his own. "I know," he said, smiling at her. "I wouldn't give you guys up for anything."

"Good," she said, a smug smile creeping across her face. "Because we wouldn't *let* you give us up."

"Good," he answered, and she giggled.

Taking his hand in hers, she asked, "Where's Zhane? Is he waiting for you somewhere?"

Andros nodded. "He's on the Delta Megaship already. If you need us, for any reason, call KERI and she'll let us know."

"All right," she said with a sigh. "Do you have any idea how long you'll be gone?"

"I wish I did," he said, rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. "I hope it won't be too long--I'm really sorry to be leaving you, Ashley."

"It's all right," she assured him, smiling. "I'll miss you, but I'll be fine; don't worry."

"I know," he said, with a rueful grin. "I was talking about me." It was his turn to sigh. "I feel like there's so much I want to talk to you about, but there's no time anymore. I can't help thinking about all those times when you asked me to do something, or go somewhere, and I said no… I wish I could go back and do all that over."

"Me too," she agreed, touched. "But we have to start somewhere--as soon as the Megaship's repaired, and you come back, we'll have time."

"I'll make it up to you, Ash," he said, patting her hand with his free one. "As soon as I get back; I promise."

She bit her lip. "Hurry up and go, then," she said quietly, trying to smile again. "So you can come back."

He hesitated, staring at her, and she couldn't resist. She pulled her hand away and put her arms around him, feeling him rest his head against hers. She could have stood like that forever, but he finally pulled away, taking her hand again and walking back toward the Glider holding bay.

She didn't hear much of what he told the other Rangers, paying more attention to the sound of his voice than what he was actually saying. She watched him explain, wondering how long it would be before she would be able to just look at him again. 

*A day? A week--a month?* He had given her no indication, and the fact was that he was a Ranger, going off somewhere alone. Given their history, that was just *asking* to be attacked.

*But he's not alone,* she reminded herself. He would have Zhane with him--indeed, that was the whole point--and if the two of them had been the only Kerovan Rangers in existence for four years, they must have been a formidable team.

He was saying goodbye by that time, and everyone was crowding around to add their own farewells. Even Phantom was there, waiting for the others to back off before he held out his own hand. Andros nodded to him, and the two clasped wrists rather than hands, but the sentiment was the same.

Then he was backing away, and she felt his hand slide out of hers. She stepped forward without realizing it, and stopped herself. He smiled, and she lifted her hand in a half-wave, knowing they were making a scene but unable to make herself care.

He turned then, abruptly, striding through the doors and disappearing from her sight.

***

Cassie kept her eye on Ashley as they all sat back down, but she seemed to be taking Andros's sudden departure well. Cassie knew that the two had to be a critical point in their relationship--he had told her he loved her only this morning, and they hadn't had any time alone since, except for the few minutes just now when he'd been able to pull her away from dinner.

Rearranging her napkin, she felt an arm bump hers, and she turned her head to see warm eyes staring into her own. He looked away as he reseated himself, but she had seen the way he was gazing at her. She looked down at her plate, trying not to blush.

*They're not the only ones at a turning point,* she thought, as TJ started to tell Ashley and Carlos the tale of Zordon's rescue. There was one part of the story he would leave out, because he had no idea it had even occurred--but it was the one part she couldn't get out of her mind for more than a couple minutes at a time ever since it had happened.

She shot a covert glance at the shadow who sat beside her. He was eating that bizarre food with perfect equanimity, as though TJ's recitation didn't remind him of anything unusual. As though she hadn't been giving him a backrub while Andros and TJ fought pirahnatrons. As though the two of them hadn't had to pry themselves apart when TJ called the Megaship to tell them Andros was in trouble.

As though they hadn't agreed to sleep together tonight.

*"Sex isn't something you do with someone you don't love,"* she remembered TJ telling her.

*But I *do* love him,* she thought, picking at her food. *I feel like I've loved him since before I knew him…*

So why was she wondering if they were doing the right thing? He had said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. That had sounded suspiciously close to a proposal to her, or whatever the equivalent would be on Elisia… and she wanted nothing more. 

And yet--the thought of sleeping with him made her more nervous than she'd been in a long time.

*I'm scared,* she admitted to herself. Her fork froze above her plate as she realized that. *I'm *more* than scared…* She was terrified of the pace they were setting--even more so because it was as much her setting it as it was him.

*What am I doing?* Cassie wondered, making herself lower her fork. She kept eating by rote, paying no attention to the conversation around her. *I barely know him!*

But she did--that was what made it so confusing. Yesterday had been the first time she'd seen him as he truly was, but she found that whenever she thought back on times before, she remembered him *this* way, not as he had appeared then. Two days ago had been the first time she'd seen him since Hercuron… but when she looked around the table, it seemed that he had always been here with them--with her.

She had to remind herself that it wasn't true. He *hadn't* always been here. In fact, he had almost *never* been here--how could she possibly have fallen in love with someone she barely ever saw? How could she be thinking about forever?

How could she be planning to sleep with him?

"Cassie?" TJ repeated, and she saw Saryn reach past her to hand him the salt. "Thanks… Cass, are you all right?"

She stared at him with uncomprehending eyes, realizing only then that he had asked for the saltshaker several times. "Yeah--sorry; I didn't hear you."

She saw TJ exchange glances with Carlos, and she shook her head at them, forcing a smile despite her confusion. "Really, I'm fine. I was just--thinking."

"Thinking about bed, probably," Ashley put in, and Cassie froze. "I know I am," her friend continued blithely. "Personally, my current plan is to go straight to my room and sleep."

"What, you don't want to do any repairs first?" Carlos teased her, and Ashley, obviously feeling better, made a face at him.

"Very funny," she said, as Cassie relaxed a little.

*She was just trying to distract TJ,* Cassie thought, grateful to her friend for the diversion.

"Phantom's going to need a place to sleep, too," Carlos said suddenly, turning his gaze in their direction.

She tried very hard not to jump, reminding herself that it was a perfectly reasonable comment. *I really need to stop thinking about this…*

But she couldn't. Like songs she hated but couldn't keep from singing, doubts kept returning to haunt her mind.

"The room across from mine is empty," TJ offered. "Cass, that's right next to yours. Do you want to show him where it is?"

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. She looked over at Saryn just as he lifted his own eyes to meet hers. She tore her gaze away, turning back toward TJ. "Sure," she said weakly, knowing there was nothing else she *could* say.

Saryn caught her arm as she stood up, and she looked back at him before she could stop herself. "You have barely eaten," he pointed out, glancing at her nearly full plate. "I do not mind waiting."

"No; I'm full." She pulled away, taking her dishes over to the Synthetron without a backward glance.

She heard the quiet behind her, and knew she would see the others exchanging glances if she turned around. So she just walked over to the door, and waited there until she felt a presence behind her. Then she did look back, unable to keep from checking.

His shadow was on the floor beside her, flowing from the darkness of his clothes. She found her gaze drawn inevitably up his frame to his face, his skin and eyes the only break in the black that surrounded him. His blue eyes, incongruous in the midst of shadow, locked with hers, and she couldn't look away.

*Do you have any idea what I've been thinking?* she couldn't help but wonder. *Does it matter to you?*

For just a moment, she thought she saw sympathy in his expression. Then, aware that they'd been standing there for several seconds, she turned away with a muttered, "The living quarters are on deck five."

He followed her out of the holding bay, saying nothing as they made their way to the lift. The doors slid shut behind them, and, not sure she could trust her voice, she reached for the control panel.

He was there first, covering the panel with his hand and waiting for her to look up at him. She couldn't, afraid of what she would see in his eyes. She saw his free hand move toward her, and then stop.

"Cassie," he said softly. "I'm sorry."

The sincere apology made her look up the way his silence had not. "For what?" she asked tentatively, uncertain what *he* had to apologize for.

"You have been preoccupied all evening," he said. "And I fear it is my fault. Cassie--I would never hold you to something said in the heat of the moment."

She bit her lip. "What I said on the Bridge?" she asked quietly, hoping she wasn't misunderstanding him.

He nodded, and she tried to contain a sigh of relief. Not only had he noticed her distress, but he had understood its cause--and he would not now ask her to follow through on a promise she wasn't sure she could keep.

"I'm the one who should apologize," she said, lowering her gaze. She knew how quickly he responded to her presence, and she didn't want him to think she was toying with him. "I meant it--then--I just--"

She hesitated, not sure how to explain. This time he did touch her, tapping her chin gently with one finger to make her look up again. "It's all right," he said, letting his hand fall when their eyes met. "I understand."

"Do you?" Cassie asked with a sigh. "Because I don't."

He was quiet for a moment. "I won't lie to you, Cassie. I--" He paused, and she could hear the tremor in his voice when he spoke again. "I want you. I want you more than I've ever wanted anything… but I want your happiness more."

For a moment, the longing in his eyes had been obvious, but he covered it up quickly. "I could never live with myself if something happened between us that you were not comfortable with. You're the most important thing in the universe to me--and whatever *you* want is what I will do."

She stared at him, at a loss for words. No one had ever said anything like that to her, and she had no idea how to respond. At last, though, honesty took precedence, and she sighed again. "I don't *know* what I want anymore," she admitted, frustrated. "I wish…"

"What?" he asked softly, when she hesitated.

"Do you--do you think we could just talk for a while?" she asked at last. "I feel like we know each other so well… and then I keep remembering that we don't, not really. I wish we could change that."

"We do know each other," he said, and she saw his hand twitch in her direction again before he caught himself. "That is the nature of the bond we share--it is the reason for the recognition we each felt when we first saw each other."

She shook her head. "Sometimes, that makes perfect sense to me. But then there's times when I think… no offense--that it's the craziest thing I've ever heard." Searching his expression, she asked the question that had plagued her ever since they met. "*Why* is it like this? Why am I so sure we were meant to be together?"

He returned her gaze steadily, not flinching in the face of her intensity. "There is no scientific explanation for something you feel, Cassie. I have no answers for your questions, except to tell you that it has always been this way among my people."

"*Everyone* falls in love with just one person, and stays with them for the rest of their life?" she persisted, unable to accept that.

"Well, no," he said, in such a way that she was sure he had had to restrain himself from adding "of course not" on the end of that. "It is not so common as that--but when it does occur, there is no fighting it."

"You tried," she reminded him, and he winced.

"I tried," he agreed. "For you. I thought it was a one-sided attraction on my part, and I hoped to spare you the burden of a lovesick suitor whose affections you did not return. But even then I knew I would never be able to change my feelings for you."

Once more, she found she couldn't think of any way to reply. He had resigned himself to a life of loneliness long before she had met him, and she wished she dared reach out to him now and change all that. "I love you," she whispered, feeling the words were hopelessly inadequate.

"And I love you," he answered with no hesitation. He touched her again, as though he couldn't help himself, running two fingers ever so lightly across her cheek.

She caught his hand before she knew what she was doing, leaning into his touch and feeling his hand rest against her face. She saw him smile a little, and she turned her head just enough so that her lips were pressed against his skin. She kissed his palm, feeling his fingers twitch, and he pulled his hand away.

"Cassie," he said, voice quiet. "I'm not--I do not know if I can take that from you without wanting more, and I would rather not find out until you are ready."

She blushed, hearing his speech go formal on her again, as it seemed to whenever he was distressed. He touched the control panel, and the lift came to life, its soft hum the only sound in the small space.

Neither of them spoke during the brief ride--Cassie couldn't tell what he was thinking, but she was trying desperately to sort out her feelings. The more reasonable part of her said that he would wait for her, and she should think this out before she committed to anything. But the part of her that had made her kiss his hand just now insisted that they had both waited long enough, and that she would regret wasting any more time…

The doors slid open, and she preceded him out into the hallway, mind still racing. She walked without having to think about where she was going, but he was obviously paying more attention, for he observed suddenly, "Your doors are all marked."

She glanced up, startled out of her reverie. It took her a moment to figure out what he was talking about, but then she caught sight of the tiny flecks of color beside four of the doors as they passed. "Yeah," she said, smiling involuntarily at the memory that came to mind. "They all look the same at first, and we had the worst time remembering whose was whose."

Pausing outside the guestroom next to hers, she added, "By the second night, we were tired of knocking on our own doors to see if we had the right room. So Ashley and I put little colored star stickers next to everyone's door."

"What did Andros say?" he wanted to know.

"Nothing," she said innocently. "Literally. He completely ignored them, so we left them there even after we learned our way around."

He smiled, and she found herself gazing into his eyes, getting lost in his expression. He said nothing, returning her stare with an intense look of his own. She looked away first--she wanted more and more to listen to her heart, and not her mind… but she didn't know how to tell him what she was thinking.

"So I will look for the pink star, and know that I belong beside it," he said quietly.

She caught his eye again, taking a single step forward. "Saryn, I--"

"I know," he said, and it was his turn to look away.

*No, you don't,* she thought, watching his carefully controlled expression, but he spoke again before she could say anything.

"Is there anything I should know about the doors?" he asked, though whether he was trying to distract himself or her, she couldn't tell. "Do you usually lock them?"

She shook her head, keying the door open. "There's a privacy lock, but everyone knocks first, so we don't usually use them."

He walked inside, glancing back to see if she would follow. She leaned against the doorframe noncommittally, and she saw him relax a little.

"There's a control panel by the door that works the lights," she said, reaching over to turn them up. "But if DECA likes you, she'll do it for you when you ask."

He smiled a little at that, but did not comment. She watched him prowl around the room, small though it was, inspecting every surface. The guestrooms were nearly identical to the Astro Rangers' rooms, except that they had a single bed instead of bunks, two chairs instead of one, and the computer terminal allowed only restricted access to the Megaship's systems.

After a minute or two, she began to suspect he was deliberately ignoring her. "Saryn?" she asked.

He turned immediately, and the guilty look on his face gave him away. "I was just--thinking," he said evasively, and she wondered if he realized he was echoing her own words.

Telling herself that it was now or never, she stepped into the room and let the door slide shut behind her. "Me too," she agreed. "And I'm tired of it."

She saw his eyes widen a little, and he folded his arms across his chest in a strangely defensive gesture. "What--what do you mean?" he stammered, and she knew he knew what she meant.

"I mean that I'm in love with you," she told him, heart pounding as she walked toward him. "And even though I fell in love with you six months ago, I didn't get to touch you until yesterday. I don't want to wait another six months before I can be with you like this."

He swallowed, but made no move to back away. "You would not have to wait six months," he whispered. "Not if you didn't want to."

"Good," she said softly, reaching out to touch his face. "Because I don't want to wait at all."

He caught her hand before it could reach him, and laid two fingers across her mouth with his free hand. "Cassie… please don't lie to me."

She shook her head a little, but he tapped her lips before she could say anything, silently asking her to let him finish. "I have told you what I want, honestly and with no reservation. Please do no less for me. Do you--" He took a deep breath, and she was surprised to realize he was shaking. "Do you really want this?"

It was no token question. She knew, as he lowered his hand, that if she said no, she could turn and walk out of the room with no protest or question from him.

She also knew that walking out was the last thing she wanted anymore. Feeling the butterflies in her stomach increase a hundredfold, she nodded slowly. "Yes," she told him softly. "I really do."

_fin_


	19. Thinking Out Loud

_Disclaimer: Once, long ago, there was an entity called Saban. This entity created the Power Rangers, and should not be mistaken for me._

**Thinking Out Loud  
by Starhawk**

Carlos slumped against the back of his chair, waiting for DECA's long distance phone tap to connect. Finally, through a series of satellites and a tunnel of hyperspace, the ISP on his laptop linked up with the servers back home and signed him on.

The volume was muted, but he saw the little flag on the mailbox icon pop up. *No kidding I have mail,* he thought wryly, double clicking on the icon and watching a list of e-mails appear on his computer screen.

He felt badly about it, but he didn't have time to read all the messages from his family--or, more accurately, from his younger brother, who was the only other one in his immediate family computer literate enough to *send* e-mail. He glanced at the subject lines, then started his own letter.

*Hey, little bro--sorry I haven't been keeping up. We've been a little busy out here, but everything's under control now. I'll tell you all about it when I get home, but I've got to do some serious studying tonight. Thanks for the e-mails, and give Mom and Dad my love--I'll see you soon. --Carlos*

He sent it off to "Vargasfam" and skimmed through the other e-mails, looking for a particular address. "KarenC" appeared near the end of the list, and the time stamp on the e-mail put its arrival time at about two hours before. He opened it, bracing himself for her tirade.

*Carlos Vargas!* He was not disappointed. *I handed in the homework assignments you forwarded me, but if you don't get your butt in class by Friday, I'm not going to have any sympathy when you fail the final. How could you miss two classes in a row?

*But I'm calm now.* Reading her words, Carlos grinned. *And I'm not asking what was so important, cause I know you won't tell me. I hope whatever it is got done, but you darn well better be here Friday--the teacher's not too pleased with you guys already, and I think missing the last class would be a *bad* idea.

*Anyway, here's the review for the final. It doesn't look too bad… Gioski's going to go over it next class so we can correct our mistakes before the exam. Good luck--hope I see you Friday.*

She didn't sign her name, but then, Karen never bothered with formalities like that. She claimed, rightly, that her e-mail address identified her to anyone who knew her, and anyone who didn't shouldn't be getting mail from her anyway.

Carlos downloaded the attached file and forwarded it to TJ before writing a quick thank you to Karen. He crossed his fingers when he told her they'd be in class Friday--the way things were going, he wouldn't be surprised if Astronema herself appeared with the Dark Fortress and enough fighters to ground the Megaship permanently. But he knew that if he and TJ weren't back on Earth in two days, they would risk failing the summer trigonometry course simply by virtue of excessive absences.

*Which would *not* be good,* he thought, sending the e-mail and logging off. TJ was only taking the class to get a college requirement out of the way before his senior year, but Carlos had signed up for pre-calculus for the coming school year. If he didn't pass this prerequisite, he'd have to take trig in the fall--and pre-calc was a full year class. He wouldn't be able to take both.

*Ah, stop worrying,* he chided himself. He printed out the review assignment Karen had sent him and dragged his backpack over to the desk. Digging out a pencil and calculator, he settled down to see how much he remembered from what they had supposedly been learning.

He had worked through the first two pages of the printout when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," he called, not looking up.

"I hate i," TJ complained, entering the room with his own papers in one hand and pencil in the other. "Who invented imaginary numbers, anyway?"

"You mean, who discovered them?" Carlos asked, amused. He hit the sine button on his calculator and copied the readout onto his review sheet.

"No," TJ said. "I mean who invented them. They're not real; you can't discover them. Personally, I'd like to have a long talk with whoever thought they were a good idea."

Carlos finally looked up. Used to TJ's venting about math by now, he only asked, "You got the e-mail?"

TJ sighed. "The review for the final? Yeah. Like we didn't have enough to worry about."

"No kidding," Carlos agreed with a smile.

"You can smile," TJ said, dropping his affronted act. "I still don't understand most of chapter ten."

"I thought Cassie was helping you with that." For all that she pretended not to care about school, Cassie was one smart girl. She'd taken an advanced level math course last year, a combination of second year algebra and trig--which meant that she'd done the stuff they were struggling with in less time, *and* while she was taking other classes.

"She was," TJ agreed. "But that was last weekend--she's had other things on her mind since then."

Carlos glanced down at his own homework, but so far, it was under control. He'd only had to look back at his book once or twice, and he figured he could memorize that stuff by Saturday, no problem. So he had time…

"Want me to try?" Carlos offered, and the relief on TJ's face made him feel guilty for his hesitation.

"Would you? That'd be great--I just don't get complex numbers. And I can't believe the exam's in three days."

"It's no problem," Carlos assured him, pushing his laptop further into the corner of the desk and clearing a space for TJ to set his stuff. "This whole summer went by way too quickly, if you ask me."

"Yeah," TJ agreed fervently. "Here, wait one sec while I get a chair."

Carlos nodded, and his friend ducked out of the room. TJ was back a minute later, chair in hand, and he seated himself in front of Carlos's desk with an expectant look. "All right. I'm ready to be impressed."

Carlos grinned. "I'm not that good, but I'll do my best. Which problem are you on?"

TJ pointed it out, and Carlos shook his head. That had been one of the ones he had to look up, and he told TJ as much. "I think it's one of the hardest things we have to know how to do, really," he said, and TJ made a face.

"Tell me again when the root of a complex number will ever matter in our lives," he asked rhetorically.

"Three days from now," Carlos replied. "When the final's sitting in front of you."

"Right…"

Carlos explained his own answer to TJ, and as usual, it turned out that TJ wasn't having half as much trouble as he claimed. Once he remembered how to start the problem, he could finish it on his own, and he did have a basic grasp of the chapter. Carlos helped fill in the details by walking him through the next few problems, and soon he found he could go back to his own review sheet while TJ worked through the second page of problems.

They sat in companionable silence for a while, the only sound the scratching of pencils and the shuffling of paper. TJ asked to borrow Carlos's calculator at one point, and Carlos put it between the two of them so they could both use it.

At last, Carlos found himself on the last page. "I may get through this review yet," he commented, leaning back in his chair and stretching.

"Yeah, well, don't rub it in," TJ said wryly, putting his own pencil down. "I have another fifteen problems to go."

"Sorry," Carlos said with a grin. "I vote for a study break. Want to get something to eat?"

TJ raised an eyebrow. "We just had dinner."

Carlos shrugged. "But no dessert."

"All right," TJ agreed, laughing. "You don't have to tell me twice."

They left the math behind and wandered down to the Glider holding bay. Carlos noticed the Blue Ranger staring off into space in the lift, but, assuming the other was simply preoccupied with the review assignment, he said nothing.

Perched on a stool in the holding bay, though, popsicle in hand, the blue-clad boy was still strangely silent. Carlos debated whether to ask or not, thinking it might be thoughts of Cassie that kept his friend quiet. TJ had spoken of her only in the most offhand way earlier, but Carlos had learned long ago that that didn't mean he wasn't troubled.

"Hey, Teej," he said finally, and saw TJ blink, refocusing his gaze to look at Carlos. "Anything you want to talk about?"

After a pause, the other asked ruefully, "Am I that obvious?"

"Only to your friends," Carlos assured him, smiling. "What's up?"

TJ sighed. "It's not really anything important."

Anything that troubled his normally carefree friend had to be pretty significant. "It's important enough to distract you," Carlos pointed out.

TJ didn't answer right away. "Did Cassie tell you guys about the gateway trip?" he asked at last.

Carlos tried to remember what Cassie had said. "Not really--something about not using it right, I think, but that was it."

"It was getting out of it that was the problem, actually." TJ stuck his popsicle back in his mouth for a moment, then said, "Andros says we hit some other dimension on our way out--for a few minutes, we saw ourselves in another universe, a place where things turned out differently than they did here."

Carlos considered that. "It's no weirder than some of the other things we've seen, I guess."

"No," TJ disagreed. "It *was* weirder. I didn't just see myself--I *was* the TJ in that dimension. I didn't remember the Megaship at all."

"Wait--you weren't on the Megaship?" Carlos asked, frowning.

TJ shook his head. "I wasn't even a Ranger. In that universe, I never came to Angel Grove."

*Never a Ranger…* Carlos couldn't help wondering what his own life would have been like if Adam Park hadn't chosen him to be the next Green Turbo Ranger. "Didn't like what you saw?" he suggested.

"No… that's just it," TJ said, his expression serious. "I did like it. I was happy there--really happy."

Startled, Carlos raised an eyebrow. "Happier than you are here?" he asked, trying not to let his surprise show. TJ had told him once that he had always wanted to be a Ranger, and that being picked to lead the Turbo team had been a dream come true.

"I don't know," TJ admitted, shifting a little to look at Carlos. "We've given up a lot to be Rangers, you know. I didn't really think about it until today."

"Well…" Carlos took a bite out of his own popsicle. "I guess that's true. We sure don't have as much free time as we used to, for one thing."

"That's part of it," TJ allowed. "We can't count on having study time, or time for practice, like everyone else. And it's hard to hang out with anybody who isn't on the team, especially since we went into space."

Thinking of Karen's e-mail, Carlos had to agree. It was hard to be running out on people every other day, without being able to tell them *why*. "But would you really want to be like everyone else?" Carlos asked. "We're so incredibly lucky to be where we are--would you give this up for a normal life?"

A movement by the door made him look up, and TJ turned to see what had gotten his attention. Ashley stood there, one shoulder braced against the doorframe as she watched them.

"Hey, Ash," Carlos greeted her. "I thought you were going to bed."

"I was," she said with a sigh. "It didn't seem like such a good idea when I actually tried it."

She didn't elaborate, but Carlos assumed she was worried about Andros. It was TJ who motioned her in, pulling out a stool and inviting, "Come on in. We were just talking about the good and bad of Rangerhood."

"What bad?" she asked in all innocence, sitting down next to them, and TJ laughed.

"That's what Carlos said, too," he told her.

"Well, not exactly," Carlos protested. There were certainly things that they didn't get to enjoy as much as other teenagers, and they did put their lives on the line with an alarming degree of frequency. But-- "I just said that the positives outweigh the negatives."

"Definitely," Ashley agreed. "We all had our chance to stay on Earth a few months ago, and we didn't. Being a Ranger was too important to us."

"Justin stayed," Carlos couldn't help reminding her. He missed the former Blue Ranger, but he knew Justin was glad he had stayed with his dad.

"Yeah," she said. "And I don't always get to see my family as much as I'd like. But with us it was different. We would have been leaving for college in a year or two anyway--our parents could handle the idea of us being away from home for indefinite amounts of time."

"Your parents could handle you being Rangers, period," TJ said ruefully. "But there's a difference between choosing to keep the Power, and doing what we did--going into space because there was nothing else we *could* do."

"Did you want to stay on Earth?" Ashley asked, looking as surprised as Carlos had been earlier.

"No, of course not," TJ answered immediately. "We had to leave--the Turbo team was history, and we needed to find a new way to defend Earth. Zordon gave the first team their powers, and he was the obvious place to start."

"But if someone had been willing to go in your place," Ashley said slowly. "Say one of the old Turbo Rangers had offered to take the responsibility--would you have stayed behind?"

TJ was silent a moment. "At the time, I would have said no way. But… sometimes I wonder what it would be like if none of us had become Rangers--what we'd be doing now, back on Earth."

"Studying," Carlos volunteered, even as Ashley suggested, "Sleeping?"

They looked at each other, and Carlos grinned. "Sorry, Teej," Ashley apologized. "But honestly, I can't imagine any place I'd rather be than out here on the Megaship."

"Me neither," Carlos agreed. "I've never had friends as close as you guys, and I wouldn't have even met you and Cassie if not for the Turbo team. You said we can't hang out with people who aren't Rangers, but we can--it's just that we can't be as close to them as we are to each other."

"We couldn't anyway," Ashley remarked, standing up. "Saving someone's life--and having them save yours--gives you a bond with them that you can't really have with anyone else."

She went over to the Synthetron, and TJ and Carlos exchanged glances. "She's right, you know," Carlos said at last.

TJ smiled. "Yeah, I guess so." Propping his left elbow on his knee, he put the grape popsicle back in his mouth.

"Besides," Ashley continued, coming back with a mug in her hand, "Look around you. We're on a *spaceship*, Teej. How many teenagers even know for sure there's life on other planets? We don't just know, we've *been* there." She glanced at Carlos with a smile. "As Justin would say, 'how cool is that?'"

Carlos had just taken another bite of his popsicle, and he tried not to laugh at her imitation of their younger friend. "He would," he agreed, swallowing. "We have to remember to have him on board again sometime soon."

"Last time, I didn't think I was going to get my Galaxy Glider back," TJ said with a grin.

"See?" Ashley said, setting her mug down. "You wouldn't give up gliding, would you? There's so much stuff that we can do that other people don't even dream about…"

"Yeah," TJ said. "But--there's things other people take for granted that *we* don't have."

"TJ," Carlos said, regarding his friend intently, "what did you see in this other universe? Or do you not want to talk about it?"

"What?" Ashley asked, looking from one to the other. "What did I miss?"

TJ sighed. "The gateway we came through to get away from Divatox is some sort of interdimensional space, and when we left it to return to normal space, we hit another dimension by accident. For a little while, me and Andros and Cassie were living the lives of the people we were in that dimension. And--if mine was anything to go by--they were pretty different."

"Whoa," Ashley said. "You were in another *dimension*?"

He nodded. "That's what Andros says."

She thought about that for a moment. "Then what happened to the TJ, Andros, and Cassie of that universe? Were they here?"

That hadn't even occurred to Carlos--and judging from the look TJ gave him, he hadn't thought of it either. "Maybe," TJ replied at last. "I don't know."

Ashley shrugged. "Just wondering--I didn't mean to interrupt… What did you see?"

He swallowed the rest of his popsicle before he answered, and Ashley glanced at Carlos. Carlos shook his head, suspecting TJ was just trying to decide how much to tell them.

"I was on the baseball team at my old school," TJ said finally. "We'd made it all the way to the championship game… and we won. It was--a great feeling."

He stopped. Carlos couldn't believe that was it. TJ had always loved baseball, and it had been the reason he'd come to Angel Grove--but ever since he'd accepted Tommy Oliver's Turbo key, he had made being a Ranger his top priority. Carlos had assumed that his place on the Ranger team had superseded any other dreams.

Ashley looked surprised too, but she wasn't willing to let it rest. "Is that what's been bothering you? You still play baseball."

"Not like that," TJ said, shaking his head. "But no, that's not what's bothering me. There was this girl…" He trailed off, and Carlos resisted the urge to glance at Ashley's expression.

"Her name was Tessa," TJ continued after a second. "She was nice, and funny; really pretty…"

When he paused again, Ashley asked, "And you two were going out?"

TJ looked over at her, a smile on his face. "Actually--I think we were engaged."

Carlos was glad his popsicle had been gone for some time, because he was sure he would have choked on it at those words. "*Engaged*?"

"Well, engaged to be engaged, anyway," TJ amended. "She was wearing a promise ring, and I distinctly remembered giving it to her."

"Wait," Carlos interrupted again. "What's a promise ring?"

Ashley rolled her eyes. "It's a ring you give someone when you're planning to be engaged. Guys never know about these things," she added.

"Hey!" TJ exclaimed. "Who gave his girlfriend one?"

"Yeah, but whose idea was it?" Ashley countered. "Did she have to tell you what it was first?"

He paused. "I don't remember," he admitted. "It's weird, but the memories I had then have faded. I still remember what I was thinking about at the time, but that's it."

"Doesn't matter," Carlos opined. "He still gave her one, no matter whose idea it was. So no more derogatory guy comments."

"But it's so easy," Ashley protested, giving him a sly look.

"Hey," TJ interjected. "We were having a serious discussion here before you came in. We don't need to hear 'guys never know about these things'."

Ashley laughed at the good-natured teasing. "All right, all right; I'm being quiet." To prove her words, she picked up her mug and took a sip.

They were all quiet for a few moments, then, until TJ shrugged into the silence. "Anyway, that's what I was thinking about," he said awkwardly, playing with his popsicle stick. "I wouldn't give up being a Ranger; you're right about that--but I can't keep from wondering if I would have met Tessa if I'd stayed on Earth."

"She was really special, huh?" Carlos said sympathetically, remembering a time when he had felt that way about Ashley. He glanced at the Yellow Ranger, and she smiled at him over the rim of her mug.

TJ nodded. "Yeah… I had a steady girlfriend back at Sanborn, and I've gone out with a few girls in Angel Grove--but Tessa was different. I--" He hesitated. "It seems weird, now, but--I loved her. I can remember exactly how I felt every time I looked at her, and I've never felt that way about *anyone*."

Carlos shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to tell him, but Ashley leaned forward. "TJ, If Tessa existed in that dimension, she's probably here too. If she was that important to you--maybe you could find her on *our* Earth."

"Believe me, I've thought of that," TJ told her ruefully. "But I was a different person there. She probably was too--and I'm not sure I could handle meeting someone just similar enough to remind me of here but not *be* her."

"But if you don't try, you'll just keep wondering," Ashley insisted. "It's not that likely you could find her anyway--but if you could, wouldn't it be worth it to talk to her, just to see?"

TJ offered a one-shouldered shrug. "If I could find her… yeah, I guess it would."

Ashley smiled. "Well, next time you go visit your folks for a weekend, check around your old school. Or get one of your sisters to do it for you. Maybe someone would know her name. It's a long shot, but lately I've started believing in that whole 'meant to be' thing. Maybe you and Tessa are."

Carlos watched TJ's expression turn thoughtful. "I might do that," the Blue Ranger said at last. "I'll think about it, anyway."

"Well, my work here is done," Ashley said, winking at Carlos. "I really am going to try to sleep now. You guys have a good night."

"You too, Ash," Carlos said, smiling, and TJ echoed him. She wandered out of the room, mug in hand, and Carlos glanced at his friend. From the look on TJ's face, there would be no more studying tonight.

***

For the third night in a row, there was no starlight on his face as he dozed. But for the first time, he did not care. He would give up the stars if it meant he could stay in this moment with her forever.

"Saryn?" she whispered, not moving.

"Yes," he answered. She was curled against him, skin pressed against skin, her soft hair gentle on his chest. "I'm here."

"Good," she sighed, and he felt the rise and fall of her breathing beneath his arm. "I love you."

He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he would have sworn he could see the outline of her body even in the darkness. "I love you, too," he promised quietly, kissing her bare shoulder.

She snuggled closer and breathed, "See you in the morning?"

He closed his eyes again, feeling a contented smile spread across his face. "Always."

***

Ashley stared up at the bottom of the bunk above her, musing that it never seemed to change from night to night. It had never bothered her before--she had always been too tired to care, or too distracted to notice. But last night, from within the comforting embrace of Andros's arms, it *had* seemed different, and its return to normalcy depressed her.

*I can't believe I miss him already,* she thought, turning on her side so she wouldn't have to look at the bottom of the other bunk. *He only left a few hours ago…*

She was never going to be able to sleep until she stopped thinking about him. Sighing, she tried to think about the repairs the Megaship would need tomorrow.

The prior damage had been almost completely repaired, with the exception of the laser array she had been working on. She couldn't remember how far she had gotten on it, but Carlos had told her it still wasn't working.

That was minor, though. The most important issues now were the two hull breaches. The holes in the Megaship's hull needed to be patched as soon as possible, and they'd have to take a look at the malfunctioning thruster. No one knew yet whether it was salvageable or not.

*And then there's our morphers,* she thought, rolling onto her other side to look at her bureau. The damaged device sat next to the yellow-banded communicator she'd been given when she joined the Turbo team--but it was the multi-colored sphere behind them that captured her attention.

*No,* she told herself firmly. *I'm trying to sleep.*

She found herself reaching for it anyway, picking up the telekinesis ball and flopping back down on her bed. She hadn't had time to play with it since yesterday, but its presence in her room was a constant reminder of Andros, and she treasured that.

She stared at it, trying to make it expand, but it refused to listen. Concentrating harder, she realized after a moment that she was giving it the evil eye. A smile tugged at her lips, and she tried to imitate the Look that Andros used from time to time.

The ball expanded, and she blinked. *I should have tried that the first time,* she thought, amused.

Letting go, she held her left hand a few inches from the ball and willed it away. As before, nothing happened, but she could almost hear Andros's words, *"Picture it in your mind… expect it to move away from you."*

A moment later, the ball started to move away. She watched it go, knowing she wouldn't be able to bring it back, but unable to tear her eyes away from its rainbow colors long enough to go after it.

She tried to stop it, just for entertainment's sake, but the ball kept moving. She kept trying, knowing it didn't always work right away, but her efforts were in vain.

*Andros,* she thought with a sigh. *You make it look so easy…*

Still, the sight of the ball moving made her smile. Even if it wouldn't respond to all her commands, she *could* make it expand. She could push it, too, and that was major progress as far as she was concerned.

Something occurred to her, and she pushed the ball harder. Its speed increased almost immediately, from a gentle drift to walking speed. Slow walking speed, to be sure, but walking speed nonetheless. She watched it approach the opposite wall of the room, smiling with satisfaction as it bounced against the metal and headed back in her direction.

It wasn't exactly success, but it was a temporary solution. Unfortunately, the telekinesis ball lost a lot of momentum in hitting the wall, and it looked like she'd have a few minutes to wait before the lazy pace of the ball brought it within her reach again.

*"She can do telekinesis,"* Carlos had said earlier. She smiled now, proud of the ability, however limited it was. *I'll get better,* she promised herself. *Eventually, and with a lot of practice--hopefully with Andros,* she thought, muffling a laugh against her pillow.

*This is *not* helping me sleep,* she realized, trying to calm down. She couldn't help it--thinking about him got her on a high that was hard to come down from. And telekinesis would be forever linked with Andros in her mind…

*Telekinesis--and telepathy,* she thought suddenly, a wild hope dawning. It had worked once before… at least, Zhane had said it did, and for a moment, she had been positive she could hear Andros's voice very, very nearby.

She closed her eyes, letting thoughts of Andros sneak back into her mind and overwhelm her consciousness. She remembered him watching her when she woke up this morning, a smile that was becoming more frequent on his face. She remembered his shock when she tickled him, and how her heart had soared when his serious expression dissolved into laughter.

Then, later, he'd been looking down at her when she woke again, this time on the less comfortable surface of the Megaship's deck. In the quiet dark of unconsciousness, she had heard his voice, coming from somewhere far away. She had listened with all her heart, until suddenly, it was less quiet and much less dark as she found herself blinking up at his worried expression.

*"I love you,"* his solemn voice had told her. *"I think I've loved you for a long time…"*

He'd said it again, at dinner, but so nervously she wondered if he thought she'd changed her mind since she last saw him. *I love you, Ashley…*

*I love you, too,* she thought, wishing with all her heart that he could hear her over the light years between them. He had so much trouble believing that what they had together would not fall apart, the way so many other things in his life had. She just wanted to say those three words over and over until he believed…

*I've always believed in you,* his voice told her, and she smiled, trying to remember his exact expression when he'd said that.

She couldn't. Her eyes flew open. "Andros?"

***

Lying in the starlit silence of his old room on Rayven, Andros stared up at the ceiling. It had been a while since he had had starlight while he slept--the Megaship's living quarters were in the more protected interior of the ship, making it impossible for the rooms to have windows.

At first, he hadn't liked it, but Zhane had pointed out that the stars were there, whether he saw them or not. The thought, simple though it was, had comforted him when he was younger and staying on a strange ship.

Then, after Zhane had been injured--fatally, Andros had thought--he had been grateful for the absolute darkness. It kept the real world from intruding on his solitude, and he realized now that it had made the perfect hiding place.

Ashley and her friends had changed that. Their noise in the hallways had kept him awake at first, for they never went to bed at the same time. Someone was always up later than the rest, and everyone had to walk past his door on their way to their room. Their footsteps and muffled voices had reached into his peace and turned it inside out.

*And those silly stickers,* he thought inadvertently, remembering the night he'd gone to his room and seen colored stars next to the other Rangers' doors. The stickers, strange food at breakfast, civilian clothes on the Megaship--

No matter what they did, it affected his life, to nearly the same degree that the seasonal patterns of the stars had once dictated life on KO-35. With the Earth Rangers in his life, turning it upside down, he started to notice the passage of time again. And with Ashley's smile greeting him every morning, he started to care.

Ever since, he'd been missing the stars when he slept.

He turned over, lying on his stomach with his head turned toward the window. The quiet whisper of trees moving in the night breeze reached him through the screen, and he smiled a little as the movement of the leaves made the stars above twinkle on and off. The place hadn't changed much in the months since he'd last been here. 

It was strange, he reflected--it felt both more and less like home than it had then. The room next door had been vacant for almost three years, since before the Kerovan Rangers had left to help with the recolonization effort, but tonight Zhane was sleeping there again. That knowledge brought a feeling of security that he hadn't had in a long time. 

At the same time, though, he couldn't help feeling disconnected. The other Rangers were back on the Megaship, grounded on a desert planet far from their own home. His mind assured him that they would be all right, but he still felt guilty for leaving them. They were his team now too--not in the way Zhane had been, but they had broken through his shell even as the Silver Ranger had all those years ago, and he owed them.

He owed *her*, if it came to that. She had made him smile again. She had convinced him that exuberance and idealism could exist in a universe that he had thought unforgiving of such traits. She saw the good in everyone, and had made him finally see it in himself.

Lifting his head, Andros tugged his pillow closer. He tried to forget the warm comfort of the night before, when he had had Ashley so near. 

Even now, he wasn't sure she knew how important she was to him. He had managed to say "I love you" to her face twice now, but it ran through his mind constantly when she was around. He had yet to find a single thing about her that he *didn't* love, and he was becoming more entranced by her presence every day--but he each time he tried to tell her, he found himself hesitating.

*I love you, Ashley,* he thought, and heard her voice in his mind, repeating the words with the ease he envied.

He sighed without realizing it. If only it were that easy… Saying things out loud made them so much more real, and reality had never been very kind to him. But he knew that what they had was too important *not* to acknowledge--she had said "always" this evening, and he had been amazed to realize he agreed.

"Always" had been his sister, and then the colony, and then Zhane--and one by one, "always" had ended. But when she told him tonight that she thought the two of them were "always"… he had believed her. He had believed *in* her--for always.

A vague awareness at the edge of his mind, noticeable only as it changed suddenly, made him reach out, thinking Zhane was awake. *Andros?*

He sat straight up, and the thoughts that had been growing more and more incoherent as sleep encroached scattered to the wind. Adrenaline brought him back to full alertness, and he stared into the dimness as though he could see the source of the voice there in front of him.

There was, of course, nothing there but shadows. And the sound of her voice had not reached his ears, but had echoed in his mind the way Zhane's telepathic call did. But she couldn't--

This afternoon hadn't been his imagination, he realized suddenly, his mind flashing back to the moment on the Delta Megaship's Bridge when he had been sure he heard her voice. Zhane had tried to tell him, but he had been too busy to listen…

*Ashley,* he thought, focusing on her bright presence, even farther away now than it had been then. He tried to remember exactly what he had been thinking of a moment before, when he had heard that first murmur of another mind.

*I believe in you,* he thought again, searching for the awareness that would let him broadcast those words to her. *I love you. I have from the beginning, and I will until the end. Ashley--*

He held his breath, concentrating on her as hard as he had once had to concentrate on his best friend to make himself heard. And the slightest whisper came back, not nearly as clear as his name had been a moment ago, but barely recognizable as her voice repeating the words "I love you" back at him.

It could have even been his imagination--but if it wasn't, he was determined not to give up so easily. *Ash,* he thought, *I can't read your mind. You have to think *at* me, hard, or I can't hear you…*

This time when he heard his name, a little more clearly but no less uncertain, he was sure it was real. Somewhere, she had been thinking the same things as him, about him, even as he thought of her, and without realizing it, their thoughts had drifted together.

*That's better,* he told her, feeling an unstoppable smile spreading across his face. *Ash?*

*Tell me I'm not dreaming,* he heard her whisper across the distance. Her voice was so quiet he had to strain to hear, but the words were distinct enough now that he was sure he was *was* hearing them.

*You're not dreaming,* he answered immediately, hands clutching at the blanket he had thrown off earlier. *But I might be…*

At first, there was no answer, only the same dim stir of thought that had fist clued him in to the awareness they were sharing. Then, *What?*

He was still grinning like an idiot, and he couldn't help being glad no one was here to see it. *Do you have any idea how amazing you are?* he asked, staring straight ahead and not seeing the walls of his room. *You should have grown up with us--you'd have been the envy of every kid on KO-35.*

*I wish I had,* came back to him, the words a little slower than her normal speaking voice. That, and the faintness of her sentences, was the only thing that belied her inexperience. *But why?*

She really doesn't know, he thought, drawing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. *Because you can talk like this,* he said simply. *Because you can move things without touching them--do you know how long that takes to learn?*

*Yes,* she answered, and her voice was a little louder on that word as some of her indignation came through.

He wanted to laugh, but the semi-darkness around him was too quiet to disturb. *Longer than *you* took,* he thought, *trust me.*

For a moment, his mind was as quiet as the room, but the feeling of brightness on the edge of his perception did not abate, and he knew she was still there. *Always,* he heard at last, and he wished she could see how much he smiled at the word.

*You said "always" before,* he said, before he could lose his nerve. *And I was just thinking how--much that meant to me.*

He closed his eyes, knowing his heart hadn't been quick enough to say the words before his mind edited them. *What I mean is--* Andros swallowed. *I love you. I always have, and I always will.*

*I know,* she answered, and this time he thought the softness of her voice was deliberate. *You said that before… I think you weren't sure I could hear you--from the beginning until the end, you said.*

He nodded into the darkness, not even registering how long and clear that last sentence had been. But she couldn't see his response, and he drew a deep breath. *Yeah…*

*Me too,* she told him, and he let out his breath in a sigh of relief. No matter that she'd said it first, he couldn't stop being nervous about revealing his own heart.

He couldn't believe how hard the longing hit him, then, but suddenly he had to see her, had to know she was still real. *Ash? Were you--on your way to bed?*

There was a pause, and it was the strangest thing, but he could almost hear her giggle. Telepathy didn't work like that, but it might have been the amusement in her tone when she answered that made him think he had. *I'm in bed now.*

There was a pause, and he bit his lip, wondering if he shouldn't ask. Then she added, *I couldn't sleep. I'm…* There was another hesitation, as he felt her focus turn away from him for just a second. *I'm playing with your telekinesis ball.*

That did it. She was thinking of him, and he wanted to see her smile. *Could you do something for me?*

*Anything,* she replied immediately, and this time he did notice how much clearer her words were becoming. He wasn't straining to hear her anymore, and her voice sounded almost as though she was in the room with him.

*Have DECA contact KERI,* he said. *I have KERI's access code here--call me, just to say good night?*

Her focus must have shifted again, because there was silence for a moment or two. He found himself holding his breath as the feeling of her presence dimmed to a mere spark on the border of his conscious mind.

Then his morpher beeped and he clapped his hand over his wrist automatically, even though the sound had come from the table by the window. He lunged toward it, snatching it off the table and flipping the catch open.

"Incoming video transmission," KERI announced calmly. "Please input access code."

Grinning, Andros scrambled off his bed and went over to the workstation by the door. He flipped on the light and punched in the code before he even bothered to sit down. The Astro Rangers' five-colored bar appeared on the screen, and he waited impatiently until the logo dissolved into darkness that was quickly replaced by an image of Ashley.

"Hey," she said, smiling out at him. Her hair was tousled, and she wore a sleeveless t-shirt over gray sweatpants, but her eyes sparkled and her smile melted his heart.

"Hi," he answered softly, reaching out to touch the screen. It was a futile gesture, but she mirrored it, and they stared at each other, two sets of fingertips pressed against screens light years apart.

"So how's Zhane?" she asked, after a moment, and he smiled. She didn't want to just say good night anymore than he did.

"He's doing all right," Andros answered, letting his hand slide down the monitor to rest beside it. She let her fingers fall, too, but didn't withdraw her hand completely. "I think it's harder for him to see the changes in people here than it was to see people he didn't know at all on the Megaship…"

She shifted in her chair as he spoke, getting more comfortable, and he found himself doing the same thing. He told her about their arrival on Rayven, and the welcome they had received; about the way Zhane had melded back into the atmosphere easier than he himself had, despite the time the other had been gone. 

It had often been that way, though, when their Ranger duties had called him and his friend away for long periods of time. He confided that he hoped Zhane would look at the last two years as just another time away that he had to catch up on. She listened, nodding in the appropriate places and sometimes asking questions about the past he spoke of.

The conversation shifted subtly from Zhane to KO-35, and from there to childhood in general. It meandered through anecdotes from Earth and Rayven, comments on life as a Ranger, and turned toward dreams from times past and how they compared to life now.

Only as the seconds slid silently past the midnight mark did Andros realize how serious the conversation had grown. But it was far from depressing, and he wouldn't have given up the time with her for anything. The video link between the two computers stayed open, even as the stars traced their nightly paths across the sky outside.

_fin_


	20. Sleeping In

_Disclaimer: Well, what can I say. Saban created these characters, their worlds, their ships, and lots of other stuff that I could technically get sued over, if someone were so inclined._

**Sleeping In  
by Starhawk**

"This is your requested wake up call," a voice that sounded a bit louder than usual announced. "It is time to get up."

TJ groaned, pulling his pillow over his ears and trying to ignore the computer's voice. The dream of Earth had not completely faded, and he tried to shut out the sound calling him away from the vision of happiness he had seen so briefly the day before.

"This is your requested wake up call," DECA repeated, and this time there was no mistaking the fact that her volume was louder than normal. "TJ, you asked to be awoken at this hour. It is time to get up."

"I changed my mind," TJ mumbled, still hoping she would go away.

"That is not acceptable," DECA informed him. "Previous experience indicates that it is unwise to trust the words of someone whose judgement is clouded by sleep. It is time to wake up, TJ."

TJ flung his pillow away from him, resisting the urge to growl at the computer again. After all, she was right--he had asked to be woken up now. And the reason…

A smug smile spread across his face, and he started to feel a little better. He dragged himself out of bed, finding his blanket on the floor again. He deliberately did not pick it up. *Serves her right,* he thought, with an evil look for the camera.

He made his way toward the door, rubbing sleep from his eyes and not bothering to change out of his pajamas. It was half an hour before DECA's standard wake up call would alert the others, and with the way this week had treated them so far, there was no way anyone else would be up before she woke them.

TJ stumbled down the hallway, blinking in the bright lighting. Normally, DECA turned the lights down overnight, but he suspected this was another of her subtle ways of reminding him that she was in charge. He couldn't help smiling again. *Not for long,* he thought gleefully, stepping into the lift and enduring the short ride to the Bridge.

Stepping out into the Megaship's control center, he went to the right and paused by one of the auxiliary console banks. Before DECA could realize what he was doing, he reached out and punched two buttons on the panel in front of him, effectively silencing the onboard computer until someone reactivated her speech circuits.

Glancing up at the nearest camera, he found the red light on and glaring accusingly at him. But there was nothing DECA could do. She wasn't allowed to override commands from the Bridge without provable safety concerns. The alarm was still working, and the sensors were enabled, which meant her enforced quiet had no ramifications other than an uninterrupted morning's sleep for five very tired Rangers.

Smiling in satisfaction, TJ turned around and headed back to his room. He had hoped to do that last night--he hadn't finished the trig review until two this morning, and he had known then that *he* wasn't getting up at seven, no matter what anyone said. But according to DECA, someone other than him had still been up at that hour, and he hadn't wanted anyone to know what was happening until after it occurred.

So DECA had gotten to annoy him with her unnecessarily loud wake up call. *But,* TJ thought, yawning as he entered his room, *the outcome was worth it.*

He grabbed the blanket off the floor and collapsed onto his bed. Pulling it up over his shoulders, he buried his head in his pillow and went back to sleep, content in the knowledge that there would be no synthesized voice to wake him up for the rest of the morning.

***

Carlos woke with a start, certain he had overslept. He stared into the darkness, trying to remember if this was a day he was *supposed* to be sleeping late. No--today was one set aside for repairs to the Megaship, but other than that, there was nothing particularly special about it.

"DECA?" he asked, then cleared his throat. "DECA, what time is it?"

There was no answer, and he frowned. "DECA?" Carlos asked again.

Across the room, he saw a red light blink at him, but no other reply was forthcoming. Knowing the alarm would have sounded if there were anything wrong, he grinned. *Someone turned DECA's voice off again.*

He stretched, enjoying the peace that pervaded the darkened room. *I could stay in bed all morning,* he thought, amused. It was nice, every now and then, to have control over something so simple as when he got up.

*Is that what TJ meant last night?* he wondered suddenly. *We do have less control over some aspects of our lives than other people our age. But… I think it evens out. We have a lot of liberties, too.*

Shrugging to himself, he decided he might as well get up. As one of the earlier risers on the team, he didn't expect anyone else to be awake yet--except for whoever had silenced DECA, of course, and that person had most likely gone back to bed. But he could at least have something to eat, and see what this world looked like in the morning light.

Rolling out of bed, Carlos stretched once more, realizing as he did so that he had fallen asleep in his uniform again. *Bad habits die hard,* he thought ruefully, wondering if it was even worth it to get a new one out.

He decided against it. Andros wasn't here, and simple logic favored civilian clothes. The work the team had to do today would be mostly external repairs, and the planet on which they had crash-landed didn't look like the type to be forgiving of long sleeves and pants.

Carlos changed quickly, reveling in the comfort of khaki shorts and a sleeveless black tee. *Something else we give up aboard ship,* he thought, then shook his head. *TJ's got me looking for things to dislike,* he thought with a grin.

He put it out of his mind and went to find some breakfast.

***

His eyes snapped open, and his whole body tensed in the absolute darkness. He didn't dare move, uncertain where he was or who had captured him in the brief time while he slept.

Movement nearby startled him into turning his head, a futile gesture in the unlit blackness of the room. Then the soft sound of her breathing registered, and he caught his breath as the unmistakable warmth of another body pressed against his.

He shifted without thinking, wanting to feel as much of her as possible. "Cassie…" He let his arm slide across her stomach, barely able to believe where he was waking up.

*Still dreaming?* he wondered, feeling her sigh. He held his breath, but nothing changed with the thought. He was still here, on the Megaship, next to the only person he had loved since the day he laid eyes on her.

She made no sound, though, and he resisted the temptation to kiss her awake. She needed her sleep as much as he needed her, and as always, her needs came first.

He tried to relax, letting her peace seep into him. He couldn't help remembering the night before, when she had been everything he had wanted. It bothered him that it had been so much about him, but he had not been in control of himself, and he wished desperately that he could make it up to her now.

She moved again in her sleep, shoulder rubbing against his chest as her breath teased his face. He found himself caressing her arm longingly, and he knew he wasn't going to be able to lie here beside her for much longer.

He drew away with reluctance, sitting up and staring into the darkness. "DECA," he whispered, not wanting to disturb Cassie. "Would you turn the lights up, just a little?"

He squinted in anticipation, knowing he should do it himself. After their conflict two days ago, he half-thought she would brighten the lights to normal strength, just to get even with him. But nothing happened, and he frowned. "DECA?"

There was no answer, but after a moment, dim illumination emanated from the lights overhead. It was just enough for him to see by, and he edged toward the end of the bed, slipping off and leaving the warmth of his lover behind.

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth at the word, and as he dressed, he hoped fervently that she would not regret last night. There was no way they could go back to what they had been, nor would he ever want to. He could only pray that she would feel the same way when she woke.

"DECA?" he whispered again, wondering how long it would be until the others were up. "What time is it?"

Again, the computer did not reply. "DECA?"

The silence alarmed him, and he padded over to the computer terminal. It refused to allow him to run a diagnostic, telling him that the station he was at was not authorized for that kind of activity.

*Not authorized,* he thought, amused. He was the one who had set up that restriction for Andros, years ago, after an accidental entry into the computer database by one of the Kerovan colonists had played havoc with DECA's internal scanner sweeps.

It took only seconds for him to get around the lockout, but a diagnostic turned up nothing wrong. He sighed, glancing back at the sleeping form still curled up on his bed. He hated to leave before she woke up, but if there was something wrong with the ship's computer, someone needed to investigate.

Returning to her side, he knelt down and gazed at her untroubled features. "You are everything to me," he murmured quietly, stroking her hair. "Sleep well, my love."

Standing, he pulled the blanket up over her shoulder and tore himself away. He left the room without a backward glance, knowing he would not be able to go if he looked at her again.

The Bridge was not as empty as he had expected, however. The Black Ranger stood by the pilot's station, gazing out at the dusty plains currently displayed on the main viewscreen. He turned when the door to the lift opened, mug in hand and curiosity evident in his expression.

Phantom stepped out hesitantly, but Carlos greeted him with a smile. "Good morning," the other Ranger said, indicating with a nod that Phantom was free to join him.

"Good morning," he answered, moving forward to stand at the second row of stations. "I do not wish to intrude on your solitude…"

Carlos shook his head. "No, that's all right. I was just enjoying the view. Since someone turned off DECA's voice, I figured no one else would be up for at least another hour."

"Someone--turned off the computer's voice?" Phantom repeated, startled.

"You didn't notice?" Carlos inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"I did--I thought there was something wrong."

Carlos smiled again. "No. It happens fairly often, actually. I don't know if you've had the 'privilege' of hearing DECA's wake up call yet, but it gets a little grating day after day."

"And… the same person turns it off, each time?" Phantom had known that the Earth Rangers were much less formal than his Kerovan friend, but he had never seen such a blatant demonstration of that fact. It also struck him as odd that DECA hadn't caught on to the prank yet.

"Well," Carlos admitted, looking a little abashed, "I was the one who did it last time. But this time I don't know who it was. It wasn't me, and I'm guessing from your reaction that it wasn't you. That only leaves the girls and TJ."

"Not Cassie," Phantom replied automatically. From what he knew of the other two, and the now-Blue Ranger's sense of responsibility, Ashley seemed the most likely choice.

Then he realized what he'd said, and he gave the other Ranger a nervous look. If yesterday evening was any indication, Cassie probably did not want to broadcast their relationship--but Carlos did not appear to notice anything unusual about the statement.

"I think you underestimate her," he said, grinning. "We're talking about the girl who pranked the *principal*--she wouldn't have any qualms about doing it to DECA."

"The principal?" Phantom repeated, and it suddenly came home to him how right Cassie had been when she said that the two of them didn't really know each other. Contrary to Carlos's belief, he had no trouble believing that Cassie would do something like that--he knew her *spirit*--but he knew so few of the details of her life.

"Don't ask," Carlos told him, taking another swallow of whatever his mug held. "Trust me; it's a story only she can tell."

Before he could press the subject, Carlos gave him a critical look. "I don't mean to sound rude, but… those are the only clothes you have with you, aren't they?"

Phantom glanced down inadvertently, and nodded. "I did not expect to spend so much time unmorphed. I apologize if my appearance bothers you."

"Of course not," Carlos assured him. "You seem--I don't know, more approachable this way." He hesitated. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I--" He shrugged uncomfortably. "I didn't realize you were so young."

"Young?" Phantom repeated, bristling.

"Well, you know," Carlos said. "Our age. I had this impression of you being older than us, I guess."

Phantom did not correct him. He had no way of knowing whether Carlos was Cassie's age or not, but if they were anything like the Elisian team, the Black Ranger might well be older.

"Anyway," Carlos went on, "I only asked because some of my clothes would probably fit you, if you want. I don't want to break any taboo by offering, but…"

The other trailed off, and Phantom just stared at him in surprise. "Thank you," he managed to say at last. "I--I would appreciate that."

"No problem," Carlos assured him, and Phantom smiled a little, surprised again to see the other return the expression. He had been months without companionship, and far longer without the companionship of people who knew his true form. It felt strange-- but not quite as uncomfortable as it had been the day before.

***

The note on the table greeted the "sleepyheads", and told anyone who happened to get up for breakfast that both Carlos and Phantom were already working on repairs. If the others felt like helping, they'd better get themselves in gear or there'd be nothing left to do.

Cassie smiled at the Black Ranger's teasing and set out to find the two Rangers. As soon as she stepped through the hatch, she was glad she'd chosen not to wear her uniform today. The heat was intense, and the sun shone unforgivingly down on her bare arms and legs.

Carlos was down by the site of the first hull breach, using a magnetic wrench to pull bolts out of the ruined section of hull. He waved as he saw her approach, holding up one finger to indicate he'd be with her in a minute.

She nodded, watching him struggle with a bolt only inches from the jagged metal tear. It looked to have been not only fused, but twisted as well by the decompression, and eventually he gave up and flipped on a laser cutter to slice it free.

The hum faded from the air as he powered both tools down, and she walked closer. "How's it going?" Cassie asked, looking more closely at the hole in the Megaship's exterior.

Carlos shrugged noncommittally. "This one's big enough that patching it would be a waste of time. I figured we'd just replace the entire plate; save ourselves the trouble of doing it later."

She nodded. Her mind was far more concerned with Saryn's whereabouts than with any hull breach, but she didn't want to be too obvious about it. "Want some help?"

"Not yet," Carlos said, his refusal cheerful enough that it could not possibly offend. "Eventually, yes--but right now, I bet Phantom could use it more than I could."

Her eyes met his, startled, and Carlos smiled. "He's on the other side of the ship, doing something to the thruster. It didn't look repairable to me, but," he shrugged, "he said he could do it."

She smiled back, well aware that Carlos had never thought much of her "crush" on their ally. His tacit approval now meant a lot to her. "Thanks," she said softly, and he nodded.

Cassie wound her way around the outside of the Megaship, ducking into the shade as soon as she came around the end of the starboard nacelle. She walked underneath the forward section, slipping a little in the sand that had been swept into miniature dunes by the ship's rocky set-down.

Approaching the edge of the port thruster, she marveled at how big this ship really was on the outside. It had taken her a good five minutes just to go this far, and she'd been moving quickly.

She caught sight of Saryn as soon as she rounded the end of the damaged thruster. He was working not too far away, his back to her as she walked closer. She stopped about five meters from him, not confident in her ability to get any nearer without him hearing her.

She smiled as she leaned against the ridge in the metallic casing of the thruster, watching him. Carlos had not mentioned that he had loaned some of his own clothes to their friend, and he looked undeniably less alien in blue jeans and sneakers. Even his black t-shirt was tucked in, looking far more Earthly than the tunic he had worn loose before.

"There is no doubt in my mind that you are more empathically sensitive than I," he said suddenly, not turning. "But I can still tell when you are nearby."

Cassie blushed, embarrassed to be caught staring. He turned around, then, before she could look away, and she scuffed her foot in the sand self-consciously. "Morning," she offered, feeling like she should say something but not sure exactly what.

His expression was worried as he came toward her. "Cassie? Are you--is something wrong?"

She shrugged, and felt a sudden fear stab at her heart. She gave him a startled look, knowing the feeling was his, and hurried to assure him, "No, I'm fine; really."

The feeling of being afraid did not go away, and she had to concentrate to ignore it. "You are not fine," he contradicted, searching her expression. "Please tell me… Do you--do you regret last night?"

"No!" she exclaimed, feeling a smile spread across her face at the memory. "Is that what you thought? No, not at *all*."

He smiled too, and the fear was gone as abruptly as it had come. "Then what?" he asked, reaching out to run his fingers through her hair. "Tell me what's wrong."

She looked down, digging her toe a little further into the sand. "It was Jenna, wasn't it," she said softly.

He was quiet for a moment, and she glanced up to find him regarding her intently. "Yes," he agreed finally. "We were very close." 

He hesitated, then added, "I loved her, Cassie. I loved all of them. But I've never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. You are more special to me than anything in the universe; a part of my heart--a part of my soul that I could never live without."

She just looked at him, wondering how she could ever respond to something like that. He had done this to her the night before too, rendering her completely speechless with his words. "How do you do that?" she asked, finding her voice at last. "Where do lines like that *come* from?"

"Straight from the heart," he murmured, leaning forward to kiss her. She turned her face upward, closing her eyes and feeling her breath disappear with the first touch of his lips.

He pulled away a moment later, though, giving her a worried look. "You are still troubled."

"It's not that," she said hastily, not wanting him to think she was that jealous. "It's just…" She trailed off, feeling herself blushing again, but unable to prevent it. "Last night was my first time. Did you--did you ever wish… that you were with Jenna, instead?"

He stared at her, and then, to her surprise, he burst out laughing. She had never heard him laugh before, and she listened, entranced by the sound and almost forgetting her own discomfort.

"No," he managed to say at last, calming down enough to catch his breath. "I most certainly did not."

"Gods, Cassie," he added, his eyes still sparkling with amusement as they met hers. "You have no idea what you do to me, do you? No matter how many times I've told you… you can still ask a question like that."

She shrugged, relieved but still a little embarrassed. "I just wasn't sure…"

"Cassie," he told her, smiling a little, "if it had been up to me, neither of us would have slept at all last night. But we were both tired, and as you say, it was your first time. I am sorry that--" His eyes clouded over, and the smile faded. "It was not the way I would have wanted it, for you. I hope that you can forgive me, and that you will let me make it up to you."

She couldn't help the childish giggle that escaped. "You want me to *forgive* you?" she asked, gazing into his eyes. "For last night? I don't know… that's going to be pretty hard."

She was teasing him, and she could tell he knew it. She moved closer, so that she could feel the heat of his body even in the warmth of this planet's midday. "But letting you make it up to me?" she murmured, putting her hands on his shoulders. "I think I could do that."

Staring at his face, so close, she couldn't help but savor the moment. He was here, with her at last--and he was hers. She had no more doubts about that; he was hers for as long as she wanted. And she wanted him forever.

She hadn't realized how long she'd been staring at him, without moving, until he closed his eyes for a second and swallowed. "Please kiss me," he begged in a voice barely above a whisper, and she was only too happy to oblige.

He responded the instant their lips touched, arms going around her and crushing her against him. She couldn't even breathe, but she didn't care, clenching her fingers on his shoulders and opening her mouth to his.

She could feel the hard metal of the Megaship's nacelle behind her, and suddenly she felt Saryn's hands slide down to her hips, lifting her up onto the shallow shelf she'd been leaning on earlier. She flung her hands out to steady herself, but he did not let go, and, finding herself as stable as she'd been on the ground, she leaned into his kiss once more.

Her perch gave her just enough height to make her as tall as he, but she couldn't press her whole body against him the way she had before. She wished he hadn't set her there--until she felt his hand caress her bare leg. She edged closer, running her fingers along his neck and over his back and feeling her legs tingle with every touch of his hand.

Then he was drawing back, slowly, but far enough that she could no longer kiss him. "You," he said, the stern effect somewhat lost in his rapid breathing, "stay here."

She stared at him, not understanding, until he tipped his head to the side, indicating the burn marks on the thruster. "I did--" he paused for breath, "tell Carlos that… I could fix this. And… no offense--you're not helping."

He smiled at her to show he was teasing, and her heart rate jumped again at the heart-warming tenderness in his expression. His hand still rested on her knee, and she deliberately shifted her position a little. He looked down inadvertently, rubbing her leg before he withdrew his hand. "You had to wear shorts," he murmured ruefully. "You never used to."

She shook her head, pleased that he had noticed. Ashley had always been the pretty one, with her fashion sense and designer skirts. Cassie knew her own style of dress was more practical, less elegant--and it had rarely bothered her that her friend drew most of the stares. But with him around, she had thought a little more carefully about what she put on.

"You have never been anything but beautiful to me," he said quietly, as though he could read her mind, and she smiled at him.

"Around you, I've never felt any other way," she told him, gazing into his blue eyes and meaning every word. He sighed--she wasn't sure he even realized he had done it--and she reached out to touch his face. "One more kiss?" she pleaded, running her fingers along his jaw.

He hesitated, catching her hand and pressing it against his cheek. He turned his head just enough to kiss her palm, even as she had done the night before, but did not take his eyes off her. "You know I can't say no to you," he whispered.

She leaned forward, and their mouths melded together once more.

***

Whistling, TJ made his way down deck six for the second time this morning. Only this time, he was considerably more awake, and in a far better mood. Strolling into the Glider holding bay, he waved to Ashley, already seated at the table.

"Hi, TJ," she greeted him, looking up from her muffin. "You did it, didn't you?"

Affecting an innocent air, TJ punched a few buttons on the Synthetron. "I know nothing, I tell you. Nothing at all."

She giggled. "It was you. I hope you're not expecting to get what you want for breakfast."

In point of fact, he wasn't, and he was as surprised as she when he pulled a plate stacked with pancakes out of the Synthetron. "Wow," Ashley said, when he joined her at the table. "DECA's turning over a new leaf."

"Yeah--a forgiving leaf," he added, digging into his pancakes. He took his first bite cautiously, fully expecting the computer to have "improved" the recipe somewhat. But there was nothing wrong with them, and he gave Ashley a surprised look. "They're good."

She shrugged. "Maybe she's trying to get on your good side."

"Or maybe she's plotting something even worse," he said suspiciously, giving the camera a dark look. "I'm not apologizing until I know which it is."

Ashley grinned, reaching for her juice. "What did you do to start all this, anyway?"

"*DECA* started it," he countered. "Not me."

"All right," Ashley allowed. "So what did DECA do?"

Pausing to swallow, TJ tried to remember. Finally, he looked at Ashley, and she burst out laughing. "You don't even know, do you?" she asked, between giggles.

He shook his head. Her amusement was infectious, and he found himself grinning. "I don't remember," TJ admitted, glancing over at the camera.

Ashley just shook her head, still smiling as she set her glass down. He kept thinking about it for a minute, but could call to mind no particular incident that had started the grudge match between him and the ship's artificial intelligence. Finally, he gave up and devoted his full attention to his breakfast.

"Hey," Ashley said all of a sudden. "Did you decide what you were going to do about Tessa?"

TJ froze, fork halfway to his mouth. The name triggered a memory of the dream DECA had woken him from earlier this morning. It had been the night after the championship win, and he and Tessa had been out star-gazing…

"Teej?" Ashley asked, and he blinked.

"Yeah," he said, setting his fork down abruptly. "Sorry, I was just thinking of something else."

"Are you all right?" she asked quietly, pushing her plate away from her and leaning a little forward.

"Yeah," TJ assured her. Lifting his own glass, he took a swallow of juice to wash down the food that suddenly stuck in his throat. "I'm fine; thanks."

She didn't look any less concerned. "Actually," he admitted, "I e-mailed my sister about her last night. She said she'd ask around."

Ashley smiled. "I'm glad--I hope she finds something."

TJ shrugged, trying not to let himself hope. "It's not all that likely. But at least it gives Ali something to do to keep her out of trouble."

"Mmm," Ashley agreed noncommittally. She raised an eyebrow when he started to pick up his dishes. "You don't have to hurry; I'll wait."

"Nah, that's okay," he said, smiling to reassure her. "I'm done."

It was Ashley's turn to shrug, collecting her own dishes and following him to the Synthetron. "I guess we'd better turn DECA's voice back on," she remarked, as he moved out of the way to allow her to stack her plate and glass on his.

Trying to forget about Tessa, TJ gave her his best devilish grin. "Do we have to?"

***

They did end up reactivating DECA's speech circuits, but the computer refused to stop sulking over the prank. It took some amount of coaxing, mostly on Ashley's part, to convince her to tell them where the other Rangers were.

Carlos was closer, so Ashley and TJ headed down to the first hull breach to see how he was doing. They found him seated in the sand, eyes closed and back against the metal plating of the hull.

"Well, I'm glad to see you working so hard," TJ said loudly, but Carlos just smiled.

He didn't even bother to open his eyes as he replied, "If someone hadn't shut off DECA's voice, you could have gotten up to help me."

"Hey, I was up till two this morning doing that trig review. Don't expect any sympathy from me," TJ told him.

"Yeah?" Carlos replied, opening his eyes at last and catching sight of Ashley. "And what's your excuse, Ash?"

She looked down sheepishly. "I… was up late, too?"

Suddenly TJ was looking at her too. "Oh, come on, Ash. You can tell us."

She couldn't help smiling at his too-innocent tone. "I could," she agreed. "But I'd never hear the end of it."

Carlos chuckled. "Now you *have* to tell us. What were you doing that kept you up so late you had to sleep till noon today?"

She tried to hide her smile, knowing how this would sound. "Talking to Andros," she admitted at last.

TJ grinned, and exchanged knowing looks with Carlos. "I see. I wonder what Andros would say about losing all that time on repairs…"

"Hey," Ashley protested, blushing. "*I* wasn't the one who turned DECA's voice off!"

"Aha!" Carlos pointed at TJ. "You, my friend, are busted."

TJ held his hands out to the side. "How do you know it wasn't Cassie? Or Phantom?"

Ashley couldn't help giggling at that. "Right, Teej. I can just see Phantom doing it…"

"Give it up," Carlos advised. "We know it was you."

"All right, all right," TJ said, settling down to sit next to Carlos. "I confess. Let's move on."

Carlos just smiled. "That means you're going to have to do some work, you know."

"What, you're not done yet?" The Blue Ranger looked surprised. "I thought you'd have finished everything while we 'sleepyheads' lazed around in bed."

"I didn't want anyone to feel left out," Carlos told him. "Now that everyone's up, you can all help get the new plating into position."

Ashley took a good look at the gaping hole off to right of the Black Ranger. It was even, rectangular, and at least six feet wide. What was left of the original plating lay in a heap nearby, and her eyes widened at the debris.

"That was a major breach," she said, amazed and glad he had decided to replace rather than patch the plating. To reinforce a patch that size, on metal so structurally unsound, would take almost as much time as what he had started to do--pull off the damaged section and replace it completely.

"Yeah, it was," Carlos said, suddenly serious. "You were really lucky, Ashley. You must have been right beside this when it happened--if you hadn't been knocked backward before the bulkheads came down, you wouldn't be here now."

TJ frowned over at the pile of twisted metal. Getting to his feet, he walked over to inspect the remnants of the plating more carefully, and Ashley folded her arms across her chest. The idea of being sucked out into the vacuum of space was not something she really wanted to think about this soon after getting up.

"Hey," TJ said, kneeling down next to the old plating. "Am I missing something, or are the burns on this really weird?"

"They're burns," she reminded him, shivering. "They're not supposed to look normal."

TJ looked up, surprise on his face at her tone. "Ash," Carlos broke in, "would you go get Cassie and Phantom? We're going to need their help to get the new plating in place and sealed."

She nodded, glad to leave the scene of the breach for a little while. She turned away from the damaged area, heading around the ship without looking over her shoulder. Her memory of exactly what had happened yesterday morning was still vague, and to be honest, she was trying not to think about it.

*Everyone's all right,* she reminded herself, rubbing her arms as she stepped into the Megaship's shadow. *We're all okay, and Carlos has the repairs under control. There's nothing to worry about.*

She was still trying to convince herself of that when she came around the end of the Megaship's port thruster. The strangest sense of disorientation came over her when she saw no one there. *But DECA said--*

Yes, this was where they had been before. She walked slowly down the length of the nacelle, seeing the jagged tear in the metal casing as she got nearer. Then her eye caught a flicker of light--from inside?

At first she was afraid, unlikely as it seemed, that some part of the thruster had actually caught fire. Aside from endangering the rest of the ship, that would also pretty much ruin any chance they had of getting it operational again--although, looking at it for herself, she couldn't believe Phantom had said it could be repaired at all.

But then the flash of light came again, and she realized it was far too steady to be flames. It looked like the glow of a flashlight, shining from the other side of a metallic rip almost as tall as she was, and comprehension dawned. Whatever Phantom was trying to do to make the mechanism operational again must take better access than was afforded from the outside of the thruster, and he had probably taken advantage of the casing breach to get inside.

She walked over to it, a little curious. The one other time a thruster on the Megaship had been damaged, it had been completely replaced, rather than repaired. She'd never seen the inside of the thrusters before, and she had to wonder what it looked like. She blinked into the dimness, trying to get her eyes to adjust from the sunscorched sand outside.

She didn't even recognize Phantom at first, dressed as he was in Carlos's clothes. He was lying on his back beneath an intimidating cluster of wires and interfaces whose purpose she couldn't begin to fathom, working with one of the small welders. Cassie sat at his side, on knee drawn up to her chest as she squeezed in between the casing and thruster components.

Despite the close quarters, the Pink Ranger looked perfectly comfortable. The flashlight was clutched in her hand, though she didn't seem to be paying much attention to where it shone. As Ashley looked in, Phantom reached up and took Cassie's wrist, adjusting the angle of the light's beam.

"Sure, everyone's a critic," Ashley heard Cassie mutter, and she was surprised to see what looked like a smile on Phantom's face.

He took Cassie's arm once more, lifting his head to kiss her hand before moving it again so he could see. Her free hand dropped down to stroke his hair, and Ashley smiled, suddenly understanding why Phantom was spending so much time unmorphed.

She rapped on the outside of the nacelle, her smile widening as Cassie jumped. "Hey, guys," she called cheerfully, for all the world as though she had just arrived. "Want to come give us a hand? We need some help replacing the hull plating."

Cassie craned her neck to meet Ashley's eye, and Phantom grabbed her hand again, holding it in place. "Sorry," she murmured, looking back, and he shook his head.

"It is all right," he assured her, not letting go of her. "But this juncture is critical. You go ahead--I can finish this part on my own."

"We'll wait for you," Ashley told him, surprised. "There's no hurry."

His concentration did not waver, but she thought he sounded a little surprised himself as he asked, "You wish me to help?"

"Well, yeah," Ashley said, taken aback. "If you're not too busy."

He didn't answer for a moment. Then, flipping the spot welder off, he tilted his head to look in her direction. "Thank you," he said quietly. "You and your friends have gone out of your way to make me feel like part of your team, and I appreciate it."

Ashley shrugged. She hadn't really thought about it, but she was glad it meant something to him. "You've always been one of us, Phantom; in spirit at least. That's what being a Power Ranger is about."

He smiled a little. "I will join you in a moment."

Cassie passed him the flashlight, and he took it with a murmured thank you. She patted his shoulder, putting her other hand behind her to push herself to her feet. She scrambled out of the tight space, and Phantom watched her go with an expression that made Ashley raise her eyebrows.

Then he blinked and looked back at the interface he'd been working on, and she and Cassie moved away from the nacelle's black scar. As they rounded the end of the thruster, she looked over at her friend. "So?"

"What?" Cassie asked, but the smile that spread across her face gave her away.

Ashley laughed. "You know what I mean. What's he like? Is he as nice as he seemed when we were Turbo Rangers?"

"He's nicer," Cassie answered with a sigh. "He's the most amazing person I've ever met."

Privately, Ashley was relieved. She had hoped Cassie would not be disappointed when she actually had the chance to meet the object of her longtime affections. None of them had ever really known anything about the Phantom Ranger, and it had worried her to think that he might not quite be everything Cassie had imagined.

"Good," Ashley said, linking her arm through her friend's. "You're glad you waited for him, then?"

Cassie nodded emphatically. "I really am, Ash. I don't know how to explain it, but… I feel like I've been waiting for him all my life."

She laughed suddenly. "That sounded really silly."

"No," Ashley assured her, smiling. "It makes sense to me."

_fin_


	21. Lag Time

_Disclaimer: Unlike "Kerone" and "Spectre", I actually spell Saban the same way everyone else does. This is good, since Saban owns the Power Rangers and likes to be acknowledged--with proper spelling._

**Lag Time  
by Starhawk**

TJ held his peace while Ashley walked away, but as soon as she was out of earshot, he turned a questioning look on Carlos. "What's going on?"

Carlos sighed. "You were right, just now. The burns on that plating *are* weird--if you assume that they were caused by an enemy laser blast."

"What else could have caused them?" TJ demanded, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

Glancing after Ashley's departing figure, Carlos did not answer. TJ thought they were all infallible, but the truth was that Rangers made mistakes the same as everyone else.

TJ followed his gaze. "Carlos, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying Ashley doesn't remember what happened yesterday," Carlos shot back. "And I'd like to keep it that way, at least until she starts remembering on her own."

TJ frowned. "What are you talking about? She doesn't remember the hull breach?"

"She knows it happened," Carlos said. "She knows that she was working on the laser array, and she knows she was knocked unconscious. But she doesn't *remember* any of it, from about the time she talked to you until the time when she woke up on the deck with all of us around her."

TJ didn't answer right away, considering the implications of that. "What *did* happen, then? I assume from what you said that you don't think Divatox's army caused this hull breach."

Carlos sighed again. "They didn't, Teej. You can see the scoring on this plating as well as I can--it didn't come from another ship. Something on the Megaship itself caused this." 

TJ didn't say anything, and Carlos wondered what he was thinking. "You have to understand, the damping field was affecting both of us. *I* can barely remember what happened, and I didn't hit my head afterwards. But I do know that it took me a lot longer than it should have to fix that microfracture, and I redid it several times because I'd made mistakes."

"So… you're saying *Ashley's* responsible for this?" TJ asked, disbelief in his voice as he glanced over at the gaping hole in the Megaship's hull.

"I'm saying she can't be held accountable--but yes, it's because of her that it happened."

"What?" TJ asked, obviously frustrated. "*What* happened? If it wasn't a laser blast, what could have done this?"

"It was a laser blast," Carlos said quietly. "Our own."

TJ just stared at him. "You mean…"

"She wanted to test the lasers' power storage mechanism," Carlos told him, recounting what little Ashley had been able to remember. "She thought it might have been damaged in the fight, in which case we'd have to replace the entire array. But she needed the array off main power to do it--"

"So the mechanism wouldn't overload when she fed independent power into it," TJ finished, his expression showing dawning comprehension. "*That's* why she asked me to do it. But I *warned* her that the lasers would still have residual energy in them."

"Yeah, well, she forgot," Carlos told him bluntly. "When she tried to flood the storage chamber, it blew up in her face. As far as I can tell, that's what threw her far enough away from the array that she wasn't drawn out into space when the hull breached."

"But you said she *caused* the hull breach," TJ reminded him, clearly uncomfortable talking about their teammate this way.

"The lower laser arrays were never meant to be fired with the shields down. The backlash tore a hole in the hull, and the energy stream the array sent off into space must have been what gave us away. All Divatox would have had to do would be to backtrack along the line of fire until she hit something."

"And she did," TJ muttered. "*That's* why Andros said 'two' shots hit us. I wondered why he didn't say three--he must have known the first one was an explosion, not a laser hit."

Carlos nodded. "Ash doesn't remember this, all right? And it's not her fault, so I'd rather she didn't have to feel guilty about it for any longer than she's going to anyway when she does remember."

TJ was quiet for a moment. "No, it isn't her fault," he agreed at last. "But you think she will remember, eventually?"

"I'm remembering better than I was yesterday," Carlos said with a shrug. "But then, my head didn't collide with the wall, either. I don't really know if she will or not--but my hunch is that the memories will come back to her, in time."

"All right," TJ conceded. "But we'll have to let Cassie know what happened. If I noticed the pattern of the burn marks, you can bet she will too."

"Actually," Carlos said, looking around, "I thought you and I could take care of this debris before they get back here. Out of sight, out of mind…"

"Cassie should still know," TJ objected.

"Yeah, sure," Carlos said, realizing his remark had been misinterpreted. "I just meant let's move this stuff now so Ashley doesn't have to help do it. She seemed a little freaked out by it earlier."

"Right," TJ said, a sympathetic look on his face. "That's a good idea. Let's shift it all inside, quick."

They had just moved the last of it out of sight of the work area when the girls returned. Stepping out through the gap between hull plates, Carlos waved to them. Right behind him, TJ asked, "Is Phantom coming?"

Ashley nodded. "He was in the middle of welding something," she explained.

"He said he'd be along in a minute," Cassie added.

"All right," Carlos said, looking around. "Let's get the plating out of storage, at least, and he can help us seal it whenever he gets here."

It took the combined efforts of all four Rangers to maneuver the unwieldy piece of metal plating through the corridors of the Megaship. They managed, though, with one at each corner until they reached the gap it would be filling. Then they had to shift a little, tilting the rectangle diagonally to fit it through.

Ashley and Carlos ended up on the outside corners, and he glanced at her in alarm as he felt her end dip a little. The movement halted abruptly, and he heard TJ ask, "Are you guys all right?"

"Just a second," Carlos called back. He shifted his grip and twisted his head to look at the Yellow Ranger. "Ash? You okay?"

Her face was suddenly pale, and he saw her squeeze her eyes shut for a moment. "Guys, we need to set this down," Carlos said, loud enough that the other two could hear him.

Then someone grabbed the plating from Ashley's side, and Carlos looked up to see Phantom standing beside her, his hands next to hers on the sharp metal edge. He helped her lower it to the ground, and caught her arm as she staggered.

Carlos was there a moment later, taking her other arm and leading her away from the plating. "Here," he said, gently helping her sit down on the ground. "Will you be okay for a minute?"

She nodded, still not speaking, and he gave her a worried look as he rejoined the others. Taking firm hold of the plating, he announced, "All right, let's get this out here."

"Ready," TJ confirmed from the other side, and Carlos exchanged glances with Phantom.

The other Ranger nodded, and Carlos clenched his fingers tighter on the metal. "Ready--lift," he called out, and they managed to get the metal sheet off the ground and at such an angle that it could be maneuvered through the opening.

Cassie and Phantom's side hit the sand first, and TJ and Carlos helped steady the top side of the plate while they edged it into position. Then they let go, propping it against the outside of the hull while Cassie went to Ashley's side.

Carlos followed, along with Phantom and TJ, and he knelt down next to Cassie. "Ashley?" Cassie was asking. "What happened?"

Not sure himself, Carlos didn't try to answer for her. Ashley raised her head, flinching as the sun hit her eyes. "Sorry," she apologized weakly. "I just--I just don't feel so good."

"You should not be lifting things so soon after a concussion," Phantom told her, and she sighed.

"Yeah. I think I pretty much got that, thanks." Ashley hated being told she couldn't do something, and it probably irked her even more to know that he was right.

Phantom couldn't have known that, though, and Carlos saw him glance over at Cassie. She just shook her head at him. "Look, Ash," Carlos said, ignoring the silent exchange, "why don't you take a break? We can handle this."

She didn't look happy about it, but she nodded without further complaint. That alone convinced him that she shouldn't have been helping them move the plating in the first place. 

With a tilt of her head, Cassie indicated that she wanted to talk to Ashley for a moment, and the others backed off a little. "You're sure you're okay, right?" Carlos heard her ask as they moved away.

"I'm fine," Ashley insisted, but she didn't sound quite as belligerent as she had when she answered Phantom. "Sorry; I didn't mean to snap at him like that."

Phantom's head turned a little at that, but he didn't comment. Then TJ called his name, nodding to the plating. "Why don't we brace this while Carlos gets a couple of the top bolts in? Once he does the corners, it'll stay by itself, and we can help do the rest of them."

Cassie looked up. "Hang on a second, guys, and I'll help you." Putting her hand on Ashley's shoulder, she added, "You take it easy for a few minutes. You won't get better by stressing yourself out."

Ashley smiled reluctantly, and Cassie patted her shoulder before getting to her feet. Coming over to join the others, she surveyed the arrangement. "I'll take your place, TJ. You and Carlos are tallest, so you might as well be the ones working on the top."

TJ gestured gallantly at his corner of the plating. "Be my guest."

She smiled, crouching down by the plating and nodding to Phantom. Together, they lifted the metal sheet off the ground, and TJ put out a hand to steady it against the hull while Carlos grabbed a couple of magnetic wrenches. Passing one to TJ, the two of them started to twist bolts into the upper corners of the replacement plating.

***

Ashley closed her eyes against the absolute stillness of the air. The sun had moved enough in the past few hours that the section of the Megaship they were working on was now in shade, but the heat had not abated much. She had no idea how Phantom could stand wearing jeans in this kind of climate.

*Andros would be too,* she thought with an amused smile. No matter how warm the days got in California, he steadfastly refused to wear shorts.

She heard footsteps in the sand, and opened her eyes again just as TJ flopped down beside her. "How are you doing?" he asked, leaning back against the hull.

She held up her morpher for inspection. "Almost done. I replaced the transmitter; I just have to finish soldering it in."

TJ gave it a cursory glance, shaking his head. "I'll never understand how you can work on something so small."

"Well, the fact that it's my morpher is sort of a motivating factor," Ashley told him with a grin. "It's not one of those things you can just take to the local repair shop."

TJ laughed. "I'm still amazed."

"Me too," Carlos called, pausing in his work to hold up his left hand. His own morpher was prominent on his wrist. "Thanks, Ash."

"You're welcome," she told him, smiling. "Again. How's it going with the sealing?"

He shrugged. "If TJ would quit slacking, it'd go a lot faster."

"Hey!" TJ gave him a mock-glare. "I resent that comment."

"Not enough to get over here and help, though," Carlos retorted, grinning at him.

"Well…" TJ considered for a moment. "No, not really."

Ashley just shook her head, smiling. TJ and Carlos had always been good friends--who on the team wasn't?--but in the past few days, they'd seemed closer somehow. They joked with each other more, and they were together every time she turned around. She hadn't seen one without the other since last weekend.

*About the time that Andros and I…* She trailed off, realizing what was happening. Even now, Cassie and Phantom were together, sealing the plating from the inside, while Carlos and TJ worked on the exterior. And here she was, sitting a little apart from them, daydreaming about Andros while she worked on her morpher.

*They're getting left out,* she thought, dismayed. *We're so worried about our own relationships that the four of us are completely ignoring them.*

Although, to be completely honest, she and Cassie hadn't exchanged more than casual conversation over the past few days either. And she still didn't know the first thing about Phantom. The only one she'd been spending any serious time with since Sunday was Andros.

The hard part of the whole situation, though, was that the only person she still felt like she wasn't seeing enough of--was Andros. She loved her friends dearly, but he'd only been gone a day and it already felt like forever. "Always" wasn't long enough if they couldn't spend it together…

"Something wrong?" TJ asked, and she blinked.

"What?" she replied, startled.

"You sighed," he told her, a smile tugging at his lips. "You weren't, by any chance, thinking about our stripey-haired friend, were you?"

"'Stripey-haired friend'?" she repeated with amusement. "Since when is that Andros's nickname?"

"Aha," Carlos said, joining them. "So you *were* thinking about him."

"I didn't say that," she protested, even as TJ looked over at the Black Ranger.

"Hey, are you all done?" he asked.

Carlos shook his head. "Nah. I figured with how long ago you stopped making yourself useful, you could do the last meter or so."

"Oh, thanks," TJ said dryly, pushing himself to his feet. "That's so kind of you."

"You're welcome," Carlos answered cheerfully. "I live to serve."

Ashley smiled, bending over her morpher again. She flipped the tiny, self-contained soldering iron back on, and applied it to the transmitter component just as Carlos asked, "So? Are you going to tell us?"

She looked up in surprise. "What?"

"You were about to tell us what you were thinking about our Red Ranger," TJ called from the repair site.

"Or was it something we shouldn't hear?" Carlos teased.

"Carlos!" She couldn't contain an embarrassed laugh.

"Well, you must have been talking to him for quite a while last night," he pointed out. "And you slept with him the night before…"

"I did *not* sleep with him!" she protested, trying not to laugh again.

"Yes, you did," TJ interjected, lifting the sealer away from the hull to inspect his progress. "Technically, anyway."

A hiss from her soldering iron drew her attention back to her morpher. "Stop it, you guys," she reproved. "You're distracting me. Do you want me to ruin this thing completely?"

"Can we help it if you find Andros distracting?" Carlos demanded.

She was giggling again; she couldn't help it. But there was no way she was going to answer that, either. She concentrated on her morpher, hoping to ignore them--but the smile on her face wouldn't go away.

Carlos took the hint and let her finish her work, but she still caught him giving her an amused look every now and then. Finally, the transmitter connection was as solid as she could make it, and she snapped the switch on the soldering iron to "off".

"Finished?" Carlos asked, and she nodded. "Here." He reached out to take the soldering iron while she put her morpher back together.

"Thanks." She snapped the keypad back into place and clicked the cover shut. Laying it over her wrist, she wrapped the heavy cloth band around to the other side and fastened the clasp.

Then she reconsidered, and hit the catch on the cover. It snapped open, and she pushed two buttons. Next to the new plating, TJ looked down as his morpher beeped.

Rather than replying, he touched his own morpher. "I'm busy," he told it, and snapped it shut again.

Ashley giggled. "I guess it works."

Carlos promptly went to test his own, and her own morpher beeped. Opening it, she announced, "Yours works too." Her voice sounded even stranger than TJ's, coming from two places at once.

Carlos grinned, and hit his morpher again. TJ's beeped, and the Blue Ranger glared at him. "Very funny," he said, removing the sealer from the hull and waving it threateningly in Carlos's direction. "If you two don't stop that, this is never going to get done."

Ashley couldn't resist, and a second later, TJ's morpher went off again. She could tell he had to work hard to keep a grin off his face as he asked, "Why me? Why don't you annoy Cassie? I bet she and Phantom finished an hour ago, and they're just sitting in there chatting."

Ashley and Carlos exchanged glances. As she considered that idea, Carlos was already signaling Cassie's morpher. Giggling, she touched the buttons on her morpher that would make Cassie's beep. She couldn't help it--she hadn't been this silly in days, and it was a good stress-reliever.

There was no answer, though, and she frowned a little. Shooting a guilty glance in Carlos's direction, she found him looking at her. "Maybe we overloaded it," he offered with a straight face.

She tried not to grin. "Have two people ever tried to signal one morpher before?"

He shrugged, and TJ called, "If you guys just managed to fry Cassie's morpher, who do you think is going to fix it?"

Ashley sighed a little, thinking of the time she'd already spent on hers and Carlos's. "Maybe she isn't wearing it?"

"She is," TJ told her. "I saw it on her wrist while we were bringing the plating out."

Ashley closed her morpher. "I'll go check and see if something's wrong."

As she hauled herself to her feet, Carlos grinned. "And if something is wrong with it now, how are you going to explain?"

"I'll just say you called her over and over," she told him, jumping out of the way as he tried to swat at her ankles. "Watch it! Or next time I won't be so quick to fix your morpher," Ashley threatened.

She darted toward the ramp before he could retaliate, slowing to a walk as she headed into the relative darkness of the Megaship's interior. She had to take the lift down a level, and she reflected how strange it was to go to all this trouble when only a few hours ago they had been able to simply step through the hull.

She tried her morpher once more as she stepped out of the lift, but again, Cassie did not respond. *We couldn't really have damaged it,* she told herself. But she couldn't figure out why there was no answer.

She walked through the hallways, retracing the steps she had taken before. Most of the bulkheads on this level had been retracted by Andros and TJ, and the remainder had gone up as soon as the Megaship entered an atmosphere. Except for the one Andros had damaged by shooting at it--she had to duck underneath that one, and she wondered idly what they were going to do about it.

As soon as she lifted her head on the other side, though, she forgot about the bulkhead. Cassie and Phantom were down the hall, just past where the other bulkhead had been--but they were definitely *not* sealing the hull plating. Suddenly, she knew exactly why Cassie hadn't answered her morpher.

The Pink Ranger was pressed up against the wall opposite the hull, eyes closed as Phantom leaned into her, kissing her mouth again and again while his hands roamed over her upper body. She certainly wasn't protesting, either. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, holding him close and returning his kisses with a passion Ashley had not realized her friend possessed.

The two were completely oblivious to their surroundings, and they clearly had no idea she was there. She stared at them, wondering whether she should make her presence known or just turn around and leave quietly.

She decided to back up a little, ducking underneath the malfunctioning bulkhead and retreating to a point far enough down the hall that she was out of sight. She flipped the catch on her morpher open and signaled Cassie again--and again, and again. She had seen her friend's morpher on the floor near the new plating, so she knew they could hear it. She signaled it again, figuring that if she was annoying enough, they wouldn't be able to ignore the beeping.

It took eleven tries, but finally the tiny light on her morpher flashed a confirmation of the link. Cassie's voice came to her a moment later, sounding almost normal--but when Ashley listened for it, she could hear the barely suppressed breathlessness in her voice.

"This is Cassie," the Pink Ranger told her.

"Hey, Cassie, is everything okay?" Ashley asked, biting her lip to keep from laughing. "I've been calling you for the last five minutes."

She knew she shouldn't give her friend a hard time, but she also knew Cassie would expect the question. And she did wonder how the other Ranger planned to answer…

"I know," Cassie replied at last. "Sorry about that--what's up?"

Ashley raised an eyebrow. *Or she could just avoid the question entirely…* "All right," she said, trying to sound puzzled. It was tough, though, when she was hard-pressed not to grin instead. "We were just wondering if you're done sealing that plating yet."

There was a longer pause, and Ashley shook her head. She definitely needed to talk to her friend about this. She didn't begrudge the two of them what little time they could steal to be alone with each other--although she'd had no idea their relationship had gone so far--but Cassie *really* needed to work on her cover-ups.

Finally, Cassie answered, "Yeah, I think we're just about done."

"Great," Ashley said, letting herself smile a little. "TJ and Carlos are almost done too." 

She paused, trying to think of a way to separate them for a moment. "Cass, could you bring your morpher out here and let Phantom finish the sealing? I've fixed mine and Carlos's, but I'm checking everyone else's too, to make sure the damping field didn't affect them in some way we haven't noticed."

"Sure," Cassie said, a little too quickly. "No problem. I'll be right there."

"Right," Ashley said, shaking her head again. "I'll see you in a minute, then."

She clicked her morpher shut and walked back to the lift, stopping just short of the doors and leaning back against the wall. It took her friend longer than it should have to arrive, but after what Ashley had just seen, she wasn't really surprised.

Cassie hurried around the corner--and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ashley waiting by the lift. "Ashley?" she asked nervously. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing as exciting as what you're doing," Ashley replied, amused.

Cassie blushed. "Did you--"

"See the two of you?" Ashley finished. "Yes. How long ago did you finish sealing that plating, anyway?"

"Just a few minutes," Cassie murmured evasively. "You didn't really need to see my morpher, did you."

Ashley shook her head. "I just wanted to talk to you for a second."

"Look," Cassie interrupted, before she could say anything else. "You don't have to lecture me; believe me, I know how crazy this is. But I'm so *sure* about him, and whenever I'm with him, I feel something…"

*Hormones,* Ashley thought wryly, but did not voice the somewhat irreverent comment.

"I can't explain it," Cassie said, obviously frustrated. "I *know* how I sound, but--"

"Cassie." The other girl cut off abruptly, and Ashley just looked at her for a moment. "Cassie, I'm not here to lecture you. As fairytale as you guys seem, I really hope you have a happy ending waiting for the two of you. I'm rooting for you all the way.

"I just--" She hesitated. "I'm guessing from your reaction that you're trying to keep things sort of quiet."

Cassie sighed. "Can you imagine what TJ would have said, if he'd walked in on us just now? Or Carlos? With you and Andros it's different; everyone *expects* you to be together…"

*Yeah, it *is* different,* Ashley thought. *For one thing, Andros and I don't kiss like that.* 

"I understand your point," she assured her friend. "But to be honest, you're not being too subtle about it. Maybe next time you could *answer* your morpher when it beeps, for example."

Phantom chose that moment to walk around the corner. He, too, paused when he caught sight of Ashley, and she shook her head. "And stop acting so guilty!"

Rather than looking surprised, Phantom seemed amused. "I take it she knows?" he asked, looking at Cassie.

"Sort of," Cassie muttered. "She saw us down the hall, a minute ago."

He looked at Cassie a moment longer, and suddenly Ashley had the strongest suspicion that that wasn't what he had meant. *What did he think I knew?* she wondered, studying the two of them.

"Cassie," he said quietly. "I understand your desire for privacy, but might it not be less stressful to simply stop worrying about it?"

"It's not stressful," Cassie insisted. "And I'm not worried--I was just surprised, that's all."

"It is stressful for *me*," he said with a slight smile. "Please, Cassie--I wish to be able to touch you in front of the others. Even if it is only your hand on mine. I miss that, when we are not alone."

Ashley looked away, knowing that she wasn't any part of this conversation. But the movement caught Cassie's attention, and she turned to her friend apologetically. "Do you think you could give us a moment?"

"Sure," Ashley replied quickly. As she started to turn away, though, something occurred to her. "Wait--give me your morpher."

Cassie frowned. "I thought you didn't need to check it."

"No," Ashley agreed. "But I have to give Carlos and TJ *some* reason for why you didn't answer the first couple times."

She pulled off her morpher without further question. "Thanks, Ash," Cassie said softly. "I really appreciate it. We'll--try not to get so carried away next time."

*"Next time"?* Ashley couldn't help noticing that her friend seemed very sure it *would* happen again. She wondered if this wasn't the first time… and the strangest memory hit her:

Four of the Rangers, gathered in the Power Chamber one afternoon after Cassie had failed to show up at the Youth Center once school let out--the discovery that she had been kidnapped from the park, and during school hours, no less… the fear in Phantom's demeanor when he arrived in the Sirus dimension, where she was supposedly being held--and the absolute trust in his stance even as "Cassie", in a very un-Cassie like action, grabbed his arm as he stood over her…

*Why *was* she in the park that day?* Ashley wondered. Cassie hadn't skipped class for months prior to that incident, and no one had ever thought to ask her. *Could she have been meeting him, even then?*

Realizing they were both waiting for her answer, she shook off the memory and managed a smile that was only slightly preoccupied. "It's no problem. You never know, maybe there *is* something wrong with your morpher. I'll just check it out."

She turned away, stepping into the lift and ordering it up one level. As the doors closed on her, she saw Phantom reach out to touch Cassie's cheek, and Cassie's words rang in her ears. *"You and Andros are different…"*

*We are different,* she acknowledged to herself once again. And not just because the others knew both of them and were used to seeing them together, either. They had a different kind of relationship.

She couldn't deny that she wouldn't *mind* Andros kissing her the way Phantom had Cassie, but he just couldn't do that yet. The memory of yesterday morning sprang to mind, when what had started as a joke had suddenly turned too serious for him. For just a moment, she had felt him let go, the same way he had on the Simudeck right after he'd told her she was beautiful.

But then he had realized what was happening, how close they were to acknowledging something more than platonic love, and he had drawn away quickly. She couldn't blame him--from what he had told her, he had every reason to be reserved, even a little aloof from time to time. But he touched her more often now, had even kissed her in front of the others, and she hoped it wouldn't be long before those barriers between the two of them started to crumble.

The lift doors opened, and she stepped out with a sigh. That made her smile, inadvertently, as she walked toward the Megaship's ramp. *I have to stop sighing every time I think about him,* Ashley thought. *Or I'm not going to be able to say anything to Cassie about subtlety.*

She wondered briefly what the two would decide. If this morning was any indication--*and yesterday evening, for that matter,* she thought, remembering the two of them at the table before the others had come in--they were having a hard time keeping their hands off each other. But at the same time, she had to agree with Cassie--TJ would have freaked if he had seen them just a few minutes ago.

Ashley shook her head, suddenly glad it wasn't her problem. *If it had been me and Andros…* She wouldn't have said no, either.

The sunlight was bright on her face after the dimmer artificial illumination of the Megaship, and Carlos waved as she approached the work site. He and TJ were both lounging against the hull now, and Carlos called, "What happened? We didn't really break her morpher, did we?"

Ashley held up the pink astromorpher so they could see it. "I hate to say this, but we might have. I'm going to take a look at it."

TJ laughed. "I hope you learned something from this," he said, mock-sternly.

"Yeah," Ashley shot back, dropping to the ground beside them. "Never listen to TJ."

"That's right," Carlos agreed, grinning. "It was your idea, Teej."

"I didn't expect you to actually *do* it," he protested. "I was just trying to get you to stop signaling *my* morpher!"

The two continued to argue as Ashley bent over Cassie's morpher, opening it up and poking around inside. She tried not to make it too obvious that she wasn't actually doing anything, but they were involved enough in their banter that they didn't seem to notice.

She wondered, tapping at the tiny diode that lit to indicate a successful link, what Andros thought of Cassie and Phantom. She could not remember him ever questioning or being surprised by their relationship--in fact, he had almost defended them, that morning before the first attempt to free Zordon. 

*Maybe because he's known Phantom longer than any of us,* she thought idly. *Maybe that makes a difference…*

***

"Requested information not found," the computer politely informed him.

"How can it not be found?" Andros demanded. "These people existed, and you're telling me you can't find any record of them?"

"There is no record of that team," the computer answered.

Andros sighed, exasperated. He had *seen* them--the entire galaxy had *known* of them--and now the computer was telling him they weren't mentioned in any database it could access. He glared at the computer terminal out of sheer frustration.

"Having a little trouble?" Zhane's amused voice asked from the doorway.

"Yes!" Andros exclaimed without hesitation. With anyone else, he would have considered his response more carefully, searching for words that revealed no weakness. But this was Zhane, and he didn't even think about it. "I can't get this computer to tell me anything about the Elisian Rangers!"

Zhane came in without being invited, as was his privilege, and looked over Andros's shoulder. "Computer, display any publicly available datafiles on the Elisian Rangers."

His phrasing was general enough that the computer should have requested a more specific data search--but instead, it gave him the same reply that Andros had been listening to for the last ten minutes. "Requested information not found."

Zhane frowned. "That's weird."

"It won't bring up *anything*," Andros complained. "No news reports, no publicity shots, no nothing. It's like they never existed."

"Computer," Zhane said suddenly. "List onscreen all past and present Ranger teams."

An alphabetized list appeared almost immediately, and Zhane reached over Andros's shoulder to tap the computer screen. It scrolled down obediently, and he slowed as it reached the "E" section. Andros leaned forward, watching intently, and sure enough, about halfway down was the word "Elisian".

Zhane touched the screen again, and "Elisian" was highlighted. "Computer," Andros said, "list members of the selected team."

"Unable to comply," the computer answered at once. "Requested information not found."

"And that's why I hate computers," Zhane muttered.

Andros shook his head. "This is ridiculous. Computer, log on to the Kerovan security network."

"Authorization required," the computer told him, but he was already entering his code into the keypad.

"Put mine in too," Zhane offered. 

Andros nodded, entering his friend's code as well. A second code would give Andros a higher security clearance, but although they each had the other's code memorized, neither would *use* the other's without permission--unless it were extremely important, which this really wasn't. It was simple curiosity.

"Authorization confirmed," the computer said, after a pause, and the artificial voice now sounded subtly different. "Welcome to the Kerovan security network, Power Rangers."

"KOSN," Zhane interjected, addressing the new system being routed through Andros's terminal. "Display the identities of the Elisian Rangers."

"Please specify," KOSN reproved mildly, and Zhane looked at Andros.

"List the team members of four years ago," Andros told the computer.

"Compliance." Five names appeared on the screen, and Andros pointed to the top one. 

The name lit up when his finger touched the monitor, and he asked, "Do you have a datafile for this one, KOSN?"

The system did not deign to answer, but the screen changed a moment later to show the name, rank, and government position of the Ranger in question. There was a rather lengthy (for someone that age) list of political involvements, and several recognitions for heroic action in battle--but what drew Andros's eye was the picture at the top of the file.

Beside the words "Saryn, Red Ranger of Elisia," was the same face that had smiled at Cassie so often over the past few days.

"So?" Zhane asked after a minute, and Andros craned his head around to look at him. "Is that what you were looking for?"

Andros nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess it was."

"You don't sound too sure," Zhane observed, not pressing, but obviously curious.

Rather than answering, Andros turned back to the computer. "KOSN, what is the status of this Ranger now?"

He could practically feel Zhane's surprise. Everyone knew what had happened to that Ranger--what had happened to *all* the members of that team. Their sacrifice had saved their planet, but the price had been the life of everyone on the team.

*Everyone on the team--except one,* Andros thought, staring at the screen as the words "Presumed dead" flashed on it, followed by a date. *Three and a half years ago.*

"Saryn of Elisia was presumed dead at the same time as his teammates, immediately following Dark Spectre's first attack on the League's frontier," KOSN informed them.

"The first *concerted* attack," Zhane corrected, a little indignantly. "*We* were attacked before Elisia."

Andros did not answer, still gazing pensively at the screen. After a moment, Zhane folded his arms on the back of Andros's chair and asked quietly, "What are you thinking about?"

Though Zhane had often used to ask him that, it was only now that Andros realized they were the same words that Ashley used when he was being particularly quiet. He smiled a little. In some ways, the two were very similar, and he would dearly love to see them become friends.

"Saryn," he answered at last, twisting around to look at Zhane. "The only surviving Ranger from the Elisian team is on the Megaship right now."

_fin_


	22. Home

_Disclaimer: The fans make the show, but without the show there would be no fans. Saban owns the Power Rangers._

**Home  
by Starhawk**

Zhane looked at him as though he had gone completely insane. "What?"

Andros tried to remember exactly what Zhane would know. "Remember the--" he caught himself just in time. "The Shadow Ranger, from Eltare?"

Zhane frowned a little, obviously taken aback by the change in subject. "Yeah--he's always at those Frontier Defense meetings. I could never figure him out, but you two seem to get along all right."

Andros nodded. "He goes by the name 'Phantom Ranger' now, and he's been helping the Earth Rangers in between Defense operations."

"Your teammates?" Zhane surmised, looking to his friend for confirmation.

"Yeah," Andros agreed. "I don't know what brought him to Earth in the first place, but I guess he fell for one of the Rangers there, and for a while, he was going back every chance he got."

"Wait," Zhane said, straightening up. "Did you just say what I heard? The Shadow Ranger--fell in love?"

Andros couldn't help smiling. "It does sound weird," he admitted. "And believe me, I was just as shocked when he told me about it."

"He *told* you?" Obviously, Zhane was having trouble reconciling his view of the passionless enigma with the person Andros was talking about.

"Well, not exactly," Andros amended. "But he said a few things that made me realize what was going on. And since the Earth Rangers have been on the Megaship, we've seen him a couple of times--and it's pretty obvious when he's around her."

Zhane was silent for a moment. When he spoke again, it was clear that he had totally forgotten their original subject of discussion in favor of this one. "Maybe I'm confusing them with some other people, but--don't Elisians bond for life?"

The Phantom Ranger's identity had been bothering Andros for days now, ever since his demorphed form had triggered a vague memory from the days when the frontier had had time to care about politics. He had searched the Megaship's database, but for some reason, DECA had not been able to find any visuals for the former Elisian team. 

In his search, though, he had come across some references to Elisian culture, and he now he could tell Zhane, "Some of them. And I think that's what happened with him and--this girl."

Zhane didn't question his assumption, just gave him a worried look and asked, "Is she all right?"

Andros didn't understand what he meant at first, but after a moment he realized that Zhane still didn't know the whole story. "The Phantom Ranger's on the Megaship now, actually, and the two of them are trying to work it out."

Zhane grinned, grabbing Andros's other chair and swinging one leg over it to perch backwards on the swivel seat. "Man, Andros, since when did you turn the Megaship into a passenger cruise?"

"Very funny." Andros tried to look annoyed, but couldn't with Zhane grinning at him like that. "He's the only non-team member on board."

Zhane's smile faded into puzzlement. "But you said--Saryn…"

He trailed off, giving Andros a skeptical look. "No way."

"The Shadow Ranger helped form the Frontier Defense," Andros said quietly. "Just a few months after the attack on Elisia that destroyed their Ranger team--he had never been heard from before that."

Zhane looked past Andros at the computer screen where KOSN was still displaying the last record they had called up. A record with a name that most of the galaxy had known, and the smiling face of a boy who had had the rest of his life in front of him. A string of numbers that marked the day that life had shattered into pieces and fallen like dust around him. And the two words that kept him from having to try and put those pieces back together: *Presumed dead*.

"Saryn of Elisia--is the Shadow Ranger?" Zhane asked at last.

"The Phantom Ranger," Andros corrected gently. "Yeah. That's him."

Zhane put both hands on the back of his chair and rested his chin on them in a gesture that made Andros smile again. Zhane used to do that all the time when he was thinking, but Andros had never thought to see it again.

"So you've seen him demorphed," Zhane said suddenly, tilting his head to look up at Andros.

Andros nodded. "He's been demorphed for the last couple of days--for her, I think. At least, I can't think of any other reason."

"He never used to demorph around anyone," Zhane mused. "Not as the Shadow Ranger, anyway. This girl must be pretty special."

Andros looked down, and Zhane didn't miss his sudden hesitation. "What?"

"They're all special," Andros whispered, staring at the floor. "Without them… I don't know who I would have become."

Ever since Zhane's "death", he had held off the tears by refusing to feel. It was one of the reasons that he and Phantom had gotten along so well--both were hiding behind their uniforms, and neither asked the other to be anything *more* than the uniform. But now, with Ashley melting the walls that had surrounded him, it was harder than it had ever been to keep his emotions at bay.

Before he knew it, Zhane was at his side, a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm glad you had someone," he told his friend quietly. "Even if it couldn't be me. I never got the chance to apologize for leaving you like that."

Andros tried to smile. "You're sorry for saving my life?"

"Of course not," Zhane said, hitting him lightly in reproof. "I'm sorry I had to go into a two-year coma to do it." He paused. "Man, I still can't believe it's been that long."

"It felt longer," Andros told him, trying to keep his voice light. 

But Zhane saw through him, as always, and a moment later he heard the Silver Ranger's voice in his mind. *Andros, I'm so sorry. I never wanted to leave you; you know that.*

The familiar mindtouch brought the tears he had blinked away back to his eyes. "I know." *Thanks for coming back, Zhane.*

Zhane grinned at him. "Thanks for saving me."

Just then, there was a timid knock from the hallway, and they both looked up. Their doors had been open all afternoon while the two of them had come and gone, and Andros saw Zhane take a small step forward to put himself between his friend and whoever wanted their attention.

Andros blinked quickly, composing his expression and getting to his feet to stand beside Zhane. He realized even as he did so that the two of them might seem a little intimidating to someone younger than they, but the child in the doorway didn't flinch. 

"Dinner has been prepared," she said, sounding as though she was reciting something that had been said to her. "The celebration has begun, and Rayven welcomes its Rangers home."

"Thanks, Myri," Zhane said, giving her his most charming smile. 

Her stiffness melted away, and she giggled at him. "You're welcome, Zhane. You're coming, aren't you?"

"Of course," he promised. "We could never turn down such a well-delivered invitation." She giggled again, and he added, "We'll be there in just a moment, all right?"

She nodded, clearly disappointed that she wouldn't get to escort them, but when Zhane smiled at her again, her expression brightened and she waved before darting away.

Andros gave him a knowing look as she disappeared down the hallway. "You'll never change, will you."

Zhane shrugged. "Hey, just because you have a girlfriend doesn't me *I* should stop looking."

"Zhane!" Andros exclaimed, trying not to laugh. "Myri's at least four years younger than you!"

There was a sparkle in Zhane's eyes that said he was teasing. "She's a lot older than when I last saw her. And when I'm thirty and she's twenty-six, it won't matter so much, will it?"

***

The summertime pavilions glittered along the forested edge of the town square, like a rain of stars that had descended from the sky to illuminate the evening. Music emanated from one end of the simply decorated stretch and the food was delicious, but Zhane knew how much Andros hated crowds.

Searching for the telltale glimpse of red, he caught sight of his friend standing alone, staring off into the night. There were enough people around that Andros had to be deliberately ignoring attempts to draw him into conversation, and Zhane felt a flash of guilt. Andros had come back to Rayven for the sole purpose of giving him a familiar face in the midst of a time no longer his own, and now it was Andros that felt out of place.

*Wasn't that always the way, though,* he thought, working his way through the people gathered in the pool of light surrounding the festivities. Andros had always been as reserved as Zhane was outgoing, as quiet as Zhane was boisterous. They complemented each other, and Zhane didn't want to think what it would have been like to have woken up and found that his friend had changed.

*Hey,* he thought, slipping the word into Andros's mind as he came up behind him. *You okay?*

Andros didn't start--the mindtouch was more subtle than the spoken word, but at the same time, easier to notice than yet another voice in the midst of the surrounding noise. *Yeah. I'm good, actually.* He turned to catch his friend's eye. "What about you?"

"Ready to get away from this crowd," Zhane said, not missing the relief in Andros's eyes at his words. Leaning forward, he whispered in his best little kid voice, "Wanna ditch 'em?"

He saw a smile tug at the corners of Andros's mouth, and he grinned. "Come on," he urged. "You don't want to be here, and I can think of a dozen things I'd rather be doing. Let's go."

Andros didn't take much convincing. Trying to hide his smile, he nodded, and they edged away from the pavilions, trying to look inconspicuous. Zhane had never been very good at that, but something about Andros made people's gaze slide over him when he didn't want to be seen. Some of that must have covered Zhane this time, for they made it into the shadows of the trees without anyone calling to them.

He turned to his friend and winked in the relative dimness. Andros was grinning like a kid who had just escaped from his parents' dreaded dinner party, and without another thought, Zhane offered his right arm. Andros did the same, and they slapped their arms together and clasped hands as they always had.

"Let's go," Zhane said again, suddenly glad to be alive.

Andros cocked his head. "Where?" he asked curiously.

Zhane didn't wait, just turned and took off deeper into the woods. "Come on!" he called, running as hard as he could and feeling his breath come faster. The reflected light of the planet above lit his way, and his feet pounded across the forested ground.

He couldn't hear anything but the sound of his heart drumming in his ears, and it was the best sound he had heard in a long time--two years, in fact. He laughed aloud as the calm of the woods dissolved into the crack of twigs and the wind of two rapidly moving bodies. He didn't have to turn to know Andros was behind him--they had always followed each other, and no amount of time was going to change that.

A massive tree loomed in front of him, and he slowed, reaching up to grab the lowest branch. His leap powered by the momentum of his pace, Zhane swung up and onto the branch. Turning, he saw Andros crash into the clearing created by the tree's giant branches and come to a halt, staring up at his friend.

"Are you crazy?" he panted, bending over to catch his breath. "What are you *doing*?"

"Living," Zhane answered happily. He saw his friend look up again with a startled expression on his face, and he extended a hand. "Come on up."

A reluctant smile spread across Andros's face. Clasping the proffered hand, he grabbed the branch with his other hand and managed to hook one leg over it. Zhane hauled him the rest of the way up, and they sat there trying to catch their breaths and grinning like idiots at each other.

"I'd forgotten how much I missed you," Andros managed at last, and Zhane laughed.

"I definitely got the better end of the deal," he agreed. "I don't remember *any* of the last two years. So I got to save my best friend without ever giving him up."

Andros closed his eyes, smiling. Letting go of the wide branch they were perched on, he held his arms out to his sides and tipped his face up toward the stars twinkling through the leafy canopy. "You're right," he agreed after a moment. Opening his eyes, he caught Zhane's eye again. "Living is a good thing."

Zhane edged backwards so he could lean against the trunk of the tree. "So tell me about it," he invited, genuinely curious. "What are you doing now? Who are these teammates of yours?" Then, unable to keep the grin off his face, he added, "And don't forget your girlfriend."

Andros smiled again, looking down at the rough bark of the tree, and Zhane wondered if he was blushing in the pale light. "They used to be the Rangers of Earth," he answered. "They lost their powers when their command center was destroyed, and four of them took off into space to find new ones. DECA pulled their shuttle on to the Megaship while I was gone, and I ended up giving them the astromorphers."

"Right," Zhane interrupted dryly. "That's an abbreviated version if I ever heard one. You were gone? And when you came back you just happened to give them the Kerovan morphers?"

"I was on an infiltration mission," Andros said with a sheepish shrug. "I left the Megaship in another solar system and just took my Glider. When I came back, they were all on board and poking around. I figured they were enemies, and we were fighting when the Megaship was attacked by the Dark Fortress."

"The Dark Fortress?" Zhane asked, raising an eyebrow.

"One of Dark Spectre's new battleships. It's not even complete yet, but you wouldn't know it by the way it fights. Astronema is Dark Spectre's newest lackey, and she commands the Fortress. She'd followed me, and if it hadn't been for the Earth Rangers doing emergency repairs while I was holding her off, I would have been so much spacedust."

*Or worse, imprisoned, with no one to come to your rescue,* Zhane thought to himself with a shiver. "I owe them, then," he said quietly.

"I've owed them many times since," Andros agreed. "I tried to leave them behind, that first day… but I thought of you, joining me after the first team was dissolved, and DECA talked me into giving them a chance."

"And you haven't regretted it?" Zhane asked, searching his friend's expression.

Andros grinned ruefully. "I regretted it plenty, at first. They were all friends--it felt like me against them for the longest time. But you know what it's like when you have to live with people; you find ways to get along. And finally, I realized they were *trying* to include me… I was the one keeping them away, not the other way around."

Zhane tried not to laugh, but he knew Andros could see his amusement. "And how long did that little realization take you?"

Andros gave him a sheepish look. "I don't know. Maybe a month or so."

This time, Zhane did laugh. "Man, Andros, when are you going to learn that not everyone in the universe is against you? They probably thought you had some kind of superiority complex."

Andros rubbed his thumb against the tree bark uncomfortably. "Well, I might have mentioned once or twice that being a planetbound Ranger wasn't quite the same as a space Ranger."

"As well as rubbing their inexperience in their faces, if I heard correctly," Zhane added with a grin. "'Earth isn't the only place where humans live'?"

Andros looked up at him in surprise. "How did you hear about that?"

"Ashley told me," Zhane said, watching in amusement as his friend groaned.

"She's never going to forget that," Andros muttered. "Not that she should. I was really terrible to them at first, especially her."

"To Ashley?" Zhane asked, surprised. "But you--" He stopped, not entirely sure how to word his question.

Andros seemed to understand anyway. "I liked her," he admitted. "If that's what you meant, yeah--she was so…"

"Innocent?" Zhane suggested softly. That had been his first impression of the new Yellow Ranger, and he could see how the trait might appeal to his battle-hardened friend.

"Yeah," Andros said after a moment. "I guess that's it. I was so--scared for her. All the time. I kept hoping she'd give up and go back to Earth. I was sure she was going to get killed, and that would be my fault too…"

"Andros," Zhane interrupted, leaning forward. "Nothing is your fault. We've discussed this, remember?" he kidded gently.

He saw the corner of Andros's mouth quirk up, and he smiled. "Besides, she's a Power Ranger. Didn't it occur to you that that probably means she can take care of herself?"

Andros offered a one-shouldered shrug but did not otherwise reply, and Zhane suddenly knew what he was thinking. Zhane, too, was a Power Ranger, and though he was alive now, Andros had believed for two years that he had died on KO-35. 

"All right, stupid question," he murmured. "Sorry about that."

Andros shook his head. "No, you're right. She *can* take care of herself… but even now, that doesn't stop me from worrying."

Zhane didn't answer for a moment, remembering his own compulsion to follow Andros into battle once the other had begun to use the Red Ranger powers. The urge had not abated once he had his own powers--if anything it had become stronger, and he found himself almost literally unable to watch the other fight alone.

"You never stop worrying," he observed finally, and saw Andros nod in agreement.

"Yeah," he said, staring off into the trees. "If something happened to her…" His voice dropped a little. "I don't know what I'd do."

Zhane watched his preoccupation for a moment, not surprised by the seriousness in his friend's demeanor. They were so opposite. Zhane had flirted with every girl of age in the Kerovan colony, while Andros had to be coaxed into offering a simple smile. But Zhane had always suspected that when and if Andros fell for someone, he would do it all the way.

"Andros?" Zhane whispered into the night, wanting to be sure. "Do you love Ashley?"

Andros's gaze snapped back to his, and the flash of fear in his friend's eyes was answer enough for Zhane. "I do," he answered just as quietly. "I love her--and I have no idea what to do about it."

"Does she know?" Zhane asked after a moment. He remembered the way Ashley had brightened at the mere mention of Andros's name, and he was certain his friend's feelings were not one-sided.

Andros nodded wordlessly.

Zhane waited to see if he would say anything, but his friend remained silent. "I mean, does she *really* know. I know how you are, Andros." He smiled to take any possible sting out of his words. "Have you actually said 'I love you' to her?"

Andros nodded again. "I wish I could say it more," he confessed. "But I'm so *scared* around her…" 

He looked at Zhane helplessly. "What would I do if Dark Spectre appeared tomorrow? What if she was killed in battle? What if I lost her--or you… again?" More softly, he repeated, "What would I do?"

*Andros,* Zhane thought firmly, staring at his friend. *That's the risk we take just by *living*. No one knows how long they have, and being a Ranger is no different. Maybe we risk our lives more, but we also have a much better chance of fighting back.*

His friend did not answer, but neither did he look away. *You know you can't live being afraid of what's going to happen tomorrow,* Zhane told him. *You have to just live, and make sure the people you care about know it. Don't try to live without them before they're gone, or you'll miss everything you were living for in the first place.*

Andros just looked at him for a moment longer. *You're right,* he said at last.

*I know,* Zhane assured him with what he suspected was one of his cockier smiles. *Honestly, though, what's the point of worrying about losing something you never let yourself enjoy in the first place?*

Something about that struck home. He could see the flicker of comprehension in Andros's expression, and he smiled again. "So are we going to head back to the Megaship, or what?"

Andros looked surprised. "Are you ready to go? Are you--" he looked suddenly worried again. "Are you even coming?"

Zhane looked around them, imagining he could see through the trees to the outskirts of town. "To be honest," he told his friend, "Rayven is as much my home now as it ever was. It was never the moon, but the company--your company--that made it a place where I belonged. I'm glad we came, but you need to be with your team. And my place is with you… if you'll have me."

"Of course," Andros answered without hesitation. "You remember that promise we made, right?"

How could he not? *We'll vow to fight as a team forever,* he thought at Andros, remembering the first time they'd said those words to each other.

*We'll vow to fight as a team forever,* Andros agreed. *I still mean that, Zhane.*

Andros reached his hand out, and Zhane leaned forward to clasp it. *Me too.*

***

*The sun shone down from an alien sky, and the smells on the wind were not those she had been born to. But this was home, and she could barely remember a time when she had lived anywhere else.

She found herself escaping through the school doors, racing her friends for the swings on the playground. She could feel them right behind her, but she was faster and had been waiting for recess all day.

Faster than most of them, anyway--just as she reached the swingset, a boy in red bowled into her from behind, knocking her to the ground. He smiled shyly down at her, and the breeze tossed his blonde-streaked brown hair away from his face.

"Sorry," he apologized, crouching down beside her on the rocky shore of the beach. "Didn't mean to get you wet."

She looked around to make sure their field trip leader was looking the other way, then stuck her tongue out at him. "I'd push you, but if you fell on the rocks, I'd get in trouble."

"I said I was sorry," he complained, reaching past her into the tide pool. Sticking his hand in the frigid water, he pulled out the iridescent shell she'd been trying to grab with her telekinesis when he splashed her. "Here."

Charmed, she accepted the bouquet with a smile and linked her arm through his. "Thanks," she told him, leaning over to give him a peck on the cheek. "That's so sweet."

"So are you," he said lightly, and the moonlight sparkled in his hazel eyes as he returned her smile. "Are you ready to go?"*

The scene shifted again, but this time there was no dream haze to smooth the transition from place to place. She stared into the darkness in confusion for several seconds before she remembered where she was.

Then the sound that had woken her came again, and she caught her breath as she heard Andros's voice saying her name. "Andros?"

But he wasn't there, of course--he had gone to Rayven with Zhane. She sighed, pieces of that dream still lingering in her mind. He had said she should have grown up on KO-35… *What would it have been like, really?* she wondered.

Then, very quietly but just as clearly as two nights before, she heard him say, *I guess she's still asleep.*

She sat up, eyes wide. It wasn't his *voice* she was hearing--it was his thoughts. *Andros?*

*Ash?* She felt something then, something more than his presence but not strong enough to identify. His voice went quiet again, barely more than a whisper, but she could hear the words, *Well, sometimes she's up earlier than the others. How was I supposed to know I'd wake her?*

*What?* Ashley demanded, wondering what was going on. *Who are you talking to?*

Just then, there was a gentle knock on her door. She looked down, straightening her shirt a little and running her hand through her hair. "Come in!"

The door slid open to reveal Andros, looking a little uncertain of his welcome as he peered into the still-dark room.

Ashley's eyes went wide, and she scrambled off her bunk. "Andros!"

She ran over to him and flung her arms around him, feeling him return the hug without hesitation. "I missed you," Andros whispered, and she smiled.

"I missed you too," she murmured, squeezing harder and feeling him instinctively do the same.

Just then, Zhane stepped into her line of sight from the doorway. "Man, you'd think you two had been separated for months," he told them with a grin.

She made a face at him, but didn't let go of Andros. It felt so nice to have him holding her again she thought she might *never* let go--but then the door next to hers slid open, and Carlos poked his head out.

Blinking sleepily at the three in the hallway, he mumbled, "Ash, you never lost that cheerleader shriek, did you?"

Andros pulled away from their embrace, but he left his arm around her waist. Not about to move away, she gave Carlos a sheepish look from her own doorway. "Sorry about that--he surprised me."

"I guessed," Carlos replied dryly, leaning against the doorframe. "Hi Andros; Zhane. Good to have you back."

"Who's back?" another voice slurred, as TJ's door slid open.

He peered down the hall at them, clearly even less awake than Carlos. "What's going on, Ash?"

"Sorry, TJ," she muttered, embarrassed. "Andros is back."

He hesitated in his doorway, rubbing his eyes. "I can see that--sort of. Hi Andros. Ash, some of us were trying to sleep…"

"I said I was sorry," she reminded him, squirming a little.

"I know, I know," he said, stumbling a little as he came out into the hallway. "Just teasing. Hi Zhane."

Zhane watched him with amusement. "You don't wake up very quickly, do you?"

Andros reached over and poked his friend. "You're not one to talk."

Carlos laughed. "At least Zhane's awake."

Zhane smiled, but Andros just rolled his eyes. "That's because it's midmorning on Rayven. And even that's a little early for him--" He cut off as Zhane cuffed him, and he pushed the other Ranger in return.

"Hey," Ashley complained, as the mock-fight made her position--leaning against Andros's side--unstable.

Andros stilled immediately, pulling her closer. "Sorry," he apologized with a smile, and she tilted her head slightly to smile back.

Suddenly she heard, *Can I--may I kiss you, in front of them?*

Startled, she had to remind herself not to nod. *Anytime…*

He leaned forward and kissed her mouth gently. "That was a good apology," she heard Zhane comment, but this time they both ignored him.

"I'm glad you're back," Ashley whispered, as he pulled away.

Carlos cleared his throat. "Well, nice to see you guys again. I think I'll just be going back to bed now."

He backed into his room, but peered out again a second later. "TJ." The Blue Ranger looked up, blinking. "Go back to bed."

TJ squinted at him for a moment. Finally he nodded, mumbling, "See you at breakfast," and wandered back into his room.

Carlos's door slid shut as well, and Ashley gave Zhane a sidelong glance. Andros saw it, and followed her gaze to his best friend.

Zhane held up his hands. "I can take a hint," he assured them, grinning knowingly. "I think I'll just pretend I have something else to do and see you later."

"Breakfast is at seven," Ashley offered, catching Andros's free hand with hers. "I guess you already ate, but you should come just to talk."

Zhane inclined his head. "I will; thank you. Don't have too much fun, you two."

He strolled away, but as he left, Ashley felt the same flicker of added presence in her mind that she had noticed earlier. She looked at Andros questioningly, and found him glaring after his friend.

"What?" she asked, looking in Zhane's direction again.

"Nothing," he muttered, shaking his head.

Suddenly, it clicked. "You were talking to *Zhane* earlier," Ashley exclaimed, then clapped a hand over her mouth, shooting a nervous look after the retreating figure of the Silver Ranger.

Andros frowned, and she continued in a quieter voice, "When you called me a few minutes ago, and you said something about me being asleep. You were talking to Zhane, weren't you?"

"You could *hear* that?" Andros asked, regarding her with surprise.

"Well, no," she said, looking down. "Just your side of the conversation. I didn't even realize it was Zhane you were talking to until just now."

"But you could hear me?" he asked again, and she nodded. He paused a moment, and his eyes got a faraway look. "I'm trying to remember if you should be able to do that," he said with a quirk of his lips when he realized she was waiting.

"Why shouldn't I?" She gave him a curious look.

"Because I wasn't talking to you. I was thinking at Zhane--and if you can't hear him, I don't think you should be able to pick up on my thoughts to him." He looked at her closer. "You're sure you didn't hear Zhane?"

She had to smile at his inspection, as though her features would reveal something she wasn't telling him. "I'm sure," she said, resisting the temptation to kiss him.

Andros frowned again, and this time it was harder to resist. She settled for lifting their clasped hands and kissing his fingers. "So? What did he say?"

Andros shook his head. "It wasn't worth repeating."

"Oh, so he was saying something horrible about me," she teased, and his frown lessened.

"You don't give up, do you?" he asked, a smile threatening to erase the lingering traces of annoyance.

She shook her head, smiling back. "That's how I got you, remember?"

"Thanks for being so persistent," he whispered, leaning forward to kiss her. 

She let him do it, but as soon as he drew away, she reminded him, "You were going to tell me what Zhane said."

He groaned. "I'm going to kill him."

She laughed. "Come on," she coaxed. "It can't be that bad."

Andros looked away. "He just said that if we don't have at least a little fun there's something wrong with me because you're too pretty not to," he said in a rush, his voice low.

She couldn't help smiling at his embarrassment. How he had gotten to be friends with someone like Zhane, she had no idea. "Well, I would have said that you're too cute not to, but I guess that would sound strange coming from Zhane."

He glanced back at her with a look of adorable surprise on his face, and she had to kiss him. She leaned forward slowly, meaning to give him plenty of warning, but he tilted his head and met her halfway.

Their lips just barely touched, and she hesitated, waiting to see if he would draw back. When he didn't, she let go of his hand and lifted hers to touch his face. His eyes opened a little, and she let her fingers slide across his jaw and trail down his neck as she kissed him again.

His free hand went around her waist, pulling her closer, and she took it as an invitation to deepen their kiss. She didn't want to alarm him with her aggressiveness, and she *knew* how skittish he was when it came to anything beyond casual touches. But at the same time, she couldn't forget the flicker of passion she'd felt in him two mornings ago when her kiss had ended their tickle fight, and she wanted to feel that again.

He let her kiss him, but in her mind she heard him whisper, *Ash…*

His distress came through loud and clear with that one word, and she pulled away abruptly. She caught his eye, and the shadows there only confirmed what she had heard.

"Andros," she whispered apologetically. "I'm *so* sorry. I promised myself I wouldn't do that--"

"No," he interrupted. The struggle inside him was obvious on his face. "*I'm* sorry--I can't believe you put up with this…"

She put her fingers over his lips. "Shh. I love you, Andros. I love you a little too much, sometimes," she added ruefully. "I can't keep myself from wanting to touch you, but if you don't want to, that's all right."

"I *do* want to," he said with a sigh, taking her hand and kissing her fingers before he drew them away from his mouth. "I just can't turn off the part of me that's still doubting everything. Can you--can you give me just a little longer?"

She smiled at him. "As long as you want."

He just looked at her for a moment, his expression going completely inscrutable. Then, just as she was wondering what he could possibly be thinking, he kissed her. No warning, just his lips pressed against hers with an intensity that took her breath away and the warm feel of his mouth as he let his heart take control of his brain for a moment.

It was a moment that was over far too soon, but it served to remind her of exactly what she was waiting for. His expression was nervous as he pulled away, and she knew that the reserved Andros was back. But that flash of passion reminded her that he felt as deeply as anyone else; he had simply gotten used to hiding it.

"I love you," she said quietly, and his expression cleared.

"I--I love you, too," he replied, with only the briefest hesitation.

*Three,* she counted mentally, smiling up at him. "Come on," she said, linking her arm through his. "You have to tell me everything that happened yesterday."

He let her pull him into her room, but out of the corner of her eye, she saw him wince at the disheveled state of her bed. "I'm sorry I woke you up," he said. "I really didn't mean to."

"It's all right," she assured him, letting go of his arm to go and neaten her bunk a little. "You were in my dream, too, so I guess it was yours to interrupt."

She turned to smile at him over her shoulder and caught his surprised look. "What did you dream about?" he asked, then immediately blushed. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry about it," she told him, amused. She couldn't tell if he was apologizing for his curiosity or for what he thought her dream was about. "All I really remember is that we were both kids, on KO-35. It was weird. Nice," she amended, remembering the untroubled smile of his younger self, "but weird."

"Did we--get along?" he wanted to know, and she laughed.

"Of course we got along." Then she paused, turning to walk back toward him. "Actually… I seem to remember something about you knocking me over." 

Snatching her brush off her bureau as she passed it, she giggled at his chagrinned expression. Only Andros could take something that happened in a dream so personally. "I must have forgiven you, though, because I think we ended up going out."

He was quiet for a moment. "We haven't done that, have we."

"What?" she asked, not understanding. Tugging the brush through her hair, she tried to loosen the tangles put there by sleep. She didn't want to think about how she looked right now, but she also didn't want Andros to leave, even long enough for her to change.

"Gone on a date," he answered, stepping forward as her brush caught on a particularly stubborn tangle. "Would you--can I help?"

Her heart skipped a beat at his innocent question. "Be my guest," she said, passing him the brush.

"Would you like to?" he asked, coaxing the brush's bristles gently through the tangle. She was amazed at how quickly he got it out, and, distracted by the sensation of his fingers on her hair, she almost forgot the question.

"Go on a date?" Ashley closed her eyes for a second as he started to brush the rest of her hair.

"No, battle the quantrons," he retorted. "Of course, go on a date." 

She smiled to herself. "I'd love to."

"Good," he said with a sigh. "I was actually worried there for a moment."

Her breath escaped in an amused huff. "Andros, you can't really have expected me to say no."

"Well," he said, and she knew he had shrugged without having to see him, "I wasn't quite sure enough not to be nervous."

She smiled again, wondering if he had any idea how endearing that sounded. He was still running the brush through her hair, even though she was sure it was once again tangle-free. She wasn't about to complain, though--as far as she was concerned, he could play with her hair for the rest of the morning.

"Did I ever tell you," he said suddenly, "that everything feels better when I'm with you? Even being nervous is kind of nice, as long as it's with you."

"No, you didn't," she said with a happy sigh. "But it's unbelievably sweet of you to say."

"It's true," he insisted, giving up any pretense of brushing her hair and just running his fingers through it over and over again. "I notice it more after being away, I guess. You make everything better."

She turned to face him, and he let his hand fall. "You, too," she said softly. "It wasn't the same without you."

He went to hold her, and she leaned into his embrace, content in his presence once more.

_fin_


	23. Integration

_Disclaimer: In Saban's world--where these characters originated--Zhane and Phantom never met. That was probably a good thing._

**Integration  
by Starhawk**

The muted illumination emanating from the overhead lights was just barely enough to see by. The dim colors of the room blurred into shadow, and if the lighting were any lower, it would have been non-existent. Even unconscious, she knew how sensitive he was to changes in his surroundings, but she had wanted very much to see him.

After three months of sleeping only as time permitted--and for very brief periods, if the logs in his starfighter could be trusted--and a week that had not exactly been restful, she had insisted Saryn go to bed early last night. *"Only if you come with me,"* he had answered with a smile. Luckily, they had been alone, but it was comments like that that made her wonder how long they could really go without the others knowing.

Cross-legged on the bed beside him, she propped her chin on her fist and watched him sleep. As she had told Ashley, they were few, they were close, and the team was together most of the time. How could they *avoid* knowing each other's secrets?

*Not that it's really a secret,* Cassie told herself. But that wasn't true--of course it was a secret. If it weren't, she wouldn't have cared that Ashley had seen them the day before. She wouldn't have asked him not to kiss her around the others. And she wouldn't have looked over her shoulder when he teased her about bed last night.

She was afraid of what the others would say, when it came right down to it. She had never cared much about what other people thought, but she'd never had friends like these, either, and their opinions mattered to her. She couldn't help but remember everyone's reactions when they'd thought Andros and Ashley had slept together.

*And they're so much more--normal than us,* she thought, gazing at Saryn. Andros and Ashley were friends who were slowly realizing they loved each other. She and Saryn were very much in love--but they had never had the chance to get to know each other, let alone be friends.

She hoped that would change. She assumed that he would be around more now, but he had not given any indication of his plans for the future. She hoped, secretly, that he would stay on the Megaship--but she suspected he couldn't. He had been a loner for too long, used to getting things done his own way and with no help from anyone else.

It would be hard to watch him leave, but she had been steeling herself for it for some time now. With his promise to return soon, which she fully intended to get from him before he left, she would be able to do it. 

*I hope,* she added silently.

But she remembered, suddenly, a similar promise made on Hercuron. *"I'll see you soon…"*

And he had not. He had been gone months with no word, and by his own admission, only chance had brought him back to her. *Could I stand that, again?* she wondered. The uncertainty and loneliness had been bad enough then, when she hadn't really known what she was missing. But now, after the last few days when he had been there whenever she looked for him, she wasn't sure how would deal with his absence.

She felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she didn't try to fight them. He wasn't awake to be hurt by them, and she could feel a familiar depression coming over her. If she told him she wanted him to stay, he might. Would the attempt be more successful than the one he had promised on Hercuron, though? He would try to do what she wanted, but he couldn't change who he was--and she wouldn't ask him to. But that didn't stop her from wanting him with her.

*How long?* she wondered, watching him shift restlessly in his sleep. *How long until you mutter something about duty and take off into the stars--alone?*

She felt a tear slide down her cheek, and she didn't bother to wipe it away. He might love her, and he might mean every word he said about wanting to spend the rest of his life with her. But the truth was that he had a one-person fighter for a reason. He didn't work as part of a team, and no matter how much he cared about her, there would always be a large part of his life that she didn't share.

A muffled shriek interrupted her thoughts, and she started. Glancing automatically toward the door, her brain caught up and identified the sound as Ashley's voice calling Andros's name. And to judge by the tone, her friend was extremely happy.

Cassie felt another tear escape even as she smiled. They were so lucky. She wondered if they had any idea how envious she was of what those two had. They could truly be everything to each other, if they so chose…

A slight movement beside her made her look down. Saryn's eyes were open and unclouded, and she wondered inadvertently what it would be like to wake up that fast.

"Andros is back," she whispered, hoping the darkness would hide her tears.

"So I guessed," he murmured, his blue eyes studying her face. "Cassie, are you--have you been crying?"

She shook her head, not trusting her voice.

He sat up, putting a tentative hand on her shoulder. She let him draw her into his embrace, resting her head on his chest and sniffling a little. "Tell me what I can do," he said quietly, touching her cheeks to wipe the tears away.

She shook her head again, catching his hand and wrapping his arm around her. "I can't," she whispered. "It's not something I can ask of you."

"Tell me," he answered immediately, hugging her closer. "Tell me, and I will do it."

She sniffed again, turning her head a little so she could hear his heartbeat. "I know," she said softly, letting the steady thrum soothe her. His freedom was his life, as much as the heart she could feel beating in his chest, and if he gave it up, he wouldn't be the same person.

Tilting her head back, she smiled up at him. "That's why I can't ask."

She lifted her hand and laid her fingers against his mouth before he could respond. Shifting her position a little, she let them slide just enough that she could kiss him. He let the kiss stay gentle, but she could feel his muscles tense with the effort it took *not* to pull her closer.

"Please tell me, Cassie," he murmured, running a hand through her hair. "All I want is for you to be happy."

She smiled at him, a little sadly. "And all I want is you."

She placed her hands on either side of his face and kissed him again. He closed his eyes, and she dropped her hands to his shoulders, trailing her fingers down his arms and feeling him shiver. She kissed his mouth, his jaw, his neck, and she heard him say softly, "I know what you are doing."

"Oh?" she breathed in his ear, kissing him again.

"You are trying to distract me."

Unfolding her legs, she laid them over his and rested her free hand lightly on his chest. "Is it working?" she murmured, touching his lips with her own. Feeling him start to return the kiss, she turned her head a little to kiss his cheek and temple instead. Right now, she just wanted to make him crazy enough that they could both forget about everything except each other for a while.

He didn't answer right away, but she could feel his heart pounding beneath her hand. "Saryn," she breathed, more to feel his name on her lips than anything else.

He turned his head, and she could see the answer burning in his eyes. "Yes," he whispered, lifting a hand to turn her face toward his. "It's working."

He leaned into her, pressing his lips to hers with a heat that she should have expected. But it took her breath away nonetheless, and she melted against him, abandoning her teasing for his more serious lovemaking.

***

The bright light assaulted his eyes as he stepped out into the corridor, and he winced. "Funny, DECA," TJ muttered, even though he knew the lights were no brighter than usual.

"What'd she do now?" Carlos wanted to know, and TJ looked up to see the Black Ranger emerging from his own room.

"Nothing," TJ admitted, shrugging his uniform jacket on over his shoulders. "That was just on principle."

Carlos chuckled. "Has she gotten even with you for turning her voice off yesterday?"

TJ shook his head, shooting a suspicious glance at a nearby camera. "Not yet. I'm still waiting."

"Maybe she decided to let it slide," Carlos suggested, wrapping an elastic around his dark hair.

"Oh, no," TJ said, going across the hall to knock on Cassie's door. "She's plotting something; I'm sure of it. The longer she's nice to me, the more worried I get."

"Maybe that's the plan," Carlos said. He wasn't wearing his uniform, TJ realized suddenly. The other Ranger was dressed in khaki and black again, the same as yesterday. But they had finished the repairs yesterday--maybe he was just anticipating the Megaship's return to Earth.

"What, to make me completely paranoid?" TJ asked, rapping on Cassie's door again. He wondered if she had gone back to sleep--like him, she was not by nature an early-riser, and if she were tired enough she might have ignored DECA's alarm.

"She's probably at breakfast already," Carlos offered.

TJ shrugged, turning away from his teammate's door. "Maybe." 

As they walked toward the lift, Carlos picked up their original conversation again. "So why wouldn't she want to make you paranoid? It's working, isn't it? And she doesn't have to do anything at all."

"Yeah," TJ agreed, following him into the lift. "That's pretty advanced reasoning for a computer, though."

He glanced at the lift's camera out of the corner of his eye, and sure enough, the red light came on. "I have compiled psychological profiles for every person to occupy the Megaship," DECA told them calmly.

TJ couldn't help smirking. "Is that a threat?"

"It is a statement of fact," DECA replied, and the lift came to an abrupt halt.

Carlos put his hands out to steady himself, and as the doors slid open he practically dragged TJ out into the corridor. "Remind me not to be anywhere around you when you and DECA are fighting," he said wryly. "Personally, I wouldn't argue with an intelligence that can control every function on the ship."

"Someone has to," TJ said, still a little smug as he followed Carlos into the holding bay.

Ashley, Andros, and Zhane were already there, and the conversation paused as TJ and Carlos came in. "Hi, guys," Ashley greeted them cheerfully.

"Morning," TJ replied with a smile. Carlos just waved, more concerned with the Synthetron than socializing.

"Ashley says you finished the repairs yesterday," Andros said, and TJ nodded.

"We'll need to test the thruster after takeoff, but other than that, yes," he agreed. "We should be ready to go."

Ashley glanced around the table. "We're going to need another place," she said suddenly.

TJ frowned at the non sequitur. "Ash, it's too early in the morning to change subjects like that."

Carlos brought a plate over and set it down next to Ashley. "TJ, get something to eat," he ordered, obviously amused. "I'll take care of it."

TJ raised an eyebrow, watching his friend leave the table again. The Black Ranger returned a moment later with another stool, and TJ smiled in comprehension. Zhane made seven--even with enough places to sit, the table was going to be crowded.

"Where's Cassie?" Ashley asked, setting her drink down. "I thought she'd be with you guys."

Carlos frowned at her. "TJ knocked on her door, but she didn't answer." He glanced around the room, as though he expected the Pink Ranger to materialize suddenly. "We thought she was with you."

If TJ hadn't been looking directly at Ashley, he would have missed the expression that flashed across her face. For just a moment, a combination of surprise and something else he didn't recognize gave her face a look of almost comic startlement. Then it was gone, and he shook his head, wondering if he had imagined it.

Ashley pushed herself to her feet, resting a hand briefly on Andros's shoulder. "She probably just fell asleep again after DECA woke her. I'll go get her."

"Yeah, Cassie gets to sleep in," TJ grumbled good-naturedly, going over to the Synthetron. "If I tried to do that, DECA would probably play the national anthem in my ear."

"Sorry, Ash," Carlos apologized, looking up from his breakfast. "If we'd realized she wasn't here, we'd have woken her up."

"That's all right," Ashley answered quickly. "I'll be right back."

She disappeared into the hallway, and Zhane looked at Andros. "Cassie is the Pink Ranger, then?"

Andros nodded, and Carlos paused again. "That's right; you haven't met her yet," he mused.

"She dragged Phantom off to get something to eat as soon as we came back," TJ added, bringing his plate back with him to the table. He took a seat across from Carlos, next to Zhane. "He'll probably be here soon, too."

***

Ashley knocked on her friend's door, but there was no response. She knocked louder, but again got only silence. "DECA?" she asked, reminding herself that she wasn't actually asking where Cassie *was*. Somehow, it still felt like a breach of privacy. "Is Cassie in her room?"

"Cassie's room is empty," DECA replied, and Ashley sighed. Her eye was drawn, almost unwillingly, down the hall toward the next door.

*They couldn't be.* It had been the first thing she'd thought of when Carlos said that Cassie hadn't answered her door, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions.

On the other hand, Phantom wasn't at breakfast yet either. And they were the only two she hadn't woken when Andros surprised her a couple hours ago. *Could they?*

She hesitated, but she knew that if she didn't return with Cassie, the others would go looking for her. And if she and Phantom really were together, that would probably be the last thing Cassie wanted.

So she walked down the hall and knocked lightly on Phantom's door. To her surprise, the answer came almost immediately. "One moment, please."

Ashley wondered suddenly what she would say if Cassie were *not* with him. *Sorry, you didn't come to breakfast fast enough for us, and we thought you'd gotten lost,* she thought wryly.

Then the door slid open, and Phantom stood there, looking more human than she had ever seen him in jeans and one of Carlos's old button-up shirts. His longish hair was tousled and the shirt unbuttoned, but, despite the darkness of the room behind him, he did not blink as the light from the hallway hit his eyes.

She glanced down inadvertently, catching sight of the ugly bruises on his chest for the first time. "I'm--I'm sorry," she stammered, realizing that he had been hurt more seriously than any of them had known. He was still recovering--it wasn't surprising that he might want to sleep through breakfast.

"I didn't mean to disturb you," she continued awkwardly. "I was actually looking for Cassie…"

She trailed off, wincing as she realized how that sounded. "She didn't come to breakfast," Ashley tried to explain, "and she's not in her room. I thought you might have seen her--I'm sorry if I woke you."

The corner of his mouth quirked, and she was suddenly reminded of Andros. That thought, coupled with the shake of his head, put her a little more at ease. "You did not wake me," he assured her. "But…" He hesitated, just for a moment. "I am afraid I cannot help you find Cassie."

Ashley shifted uncomfortably, intending to apologize again. Before she could say anything, though, a sound from deeper in the room caught her attention.

"No," Cassie's voice said quietly, and there was a rustle of movement from the darkness behind him. "You don't have to lie for me."

"DECA," she added, stepping out of the shadows to stand next to Phantom. "Please turn the lights up."

DECA complied, and Ashley tried very hard not to stare. Barefoot, wearing only an oversize pink t-shirt that hung halfway to her knees, Cassie had obviously not stopped by on her way to breakfast.

"I--" Ashley tried again. "We missed you, at breakfast."

"So I heard," Cassie replied neutrally.

Ashley tried to decide whether her friend was upset or not, but she found she couldn't read Cassie's expression at all. "Are you… planning to come?"

Cassie nodded wordlessly.

"Do you want me to wait?" Ashley offered. A quick glance at Phantom revealed him watching Cassie as well.

A flicker of relief was the first readable look on her friend's face. "Would you?" she asked, and Ashley nodded emphatically.

"Of course," she said, wondering if Cassie had worried that she would think less of her. Ashley smiled, and her friend returned it, visibly relaxing.

"I'll be out in a minute," she promised, and Ashley nodded.

Only as the door slid shut again did the meaning of Cassie's words sink in. She was changing--in Phantom's room. The fact that she had clothes to change *into* meant that she had expected to spend the night there, and Ashley wondered if this was not the first time. Either that, or they had planned it in advance…

She shook her head, leaning against the corridor wall as she waited. It wasn't any of her business. The two were responsible enough to be Rangers, so she wasn't going to question the decisions they made about their love life.

*Too bad no one gave me and Andros that same courtesy,* she thought wryly, remembering the commotion they'd unwittingly caused two days ago.

That memory led inevitably to the incident that had *started* the commotion, and she smiled. Aside from his laughter the next morning, her most vivid memory of that night was waking up and finding herself mysteriously lacking for a blanket. She had slid sleepily out of bed to retrieve the one from the bunk above hers.

Turning back to him, she had caught her breath. To see Andros, so often solemn and withdrawn, curled up on her bed, all his defenses down as he slept…

She sighed, then clapped a hand over her mouth as she realized she'd done it again. *Andros,* she thought, smiling to herself. *How did you turn me into such a hopeless romantic?*

The door next to her slid open, and she realized she'd been staring at the opposite wall for the last few minutes, reliving that morning with Andros--and this one. The feel of his kiss, and his fingers in her hair… both had been wonderful, but she managed to keep herself from sighing again as Cassie stepped out into the hall.

"Hey, Cassie," she greeted her friend, pushing away from the wall. The Pink Ranger was wearing regular clothes, rather than her uniform, and Ashley couldn't help remembering how out of place Carlos had looked earlier when he'd come into the holding bay in shorts. But she didn't ask, and Cassie didn't volunteer an explanation.

"Is Phantom coming?" Ashley asked, glancing over at the closing door.

Cassie looked away, a little uncomfortably, Ashley thought. "He'll follow us in a few minutes," she said quietly, and Ashley looked at her sympathetically.

"The others could take it, you know," she told her friend gently. "They'd just want you to be happy."

Cassie shrugged, and turned away to walk toward the lift. "Ash, if it were someone else, *I* wouldn't understand. How can I expect them to?"

"Give them a little credit," Ashley reproved mildly. "We all know how you feel about him. It might seem a little--fast, I guess, but if you're happy, they'll be happy for you."

Cassie stepped into the lift without a word, and Ashley frowned a little, suddenly alarmed. "Cassie? You are happy, aren't you?"

The lift doors slid shut, and Cassie glanced over at her. The smile on her face reassured Ashley, and she nodded slightly. "I wouldn't trade what I have with him for *anything*," she said, quietly, but so fervently that Ashley couldn't doubt her.

"It's just--" She stopped, and Ashley realized they were still standing in the lift without having given it a destination.

"Deck six," she told DECA, and then gave Cassie a searching look. "It's just what?"

Cassie squeezed her eyes shut for just a second, and then met Ashley's gaze. "I'm so afraid he's going to leave," she confessed in a whisper.

Ashley's eyes widened. "He couldn't… I thought--" She stopped. Phantom had been so much a part of the team yesterday that she had almost forgotten he wasn't.

"He's always left before," Cassie said, not seeming to notice her friend's hesitation. "No matter what he says, he never stays very long…"

"But it's different now," Ashley insisted, feeling the lift come to a halt and hitting the control panel to keep the door from opening. "I mean, you two…"

She trailed off. Cassie just shook her head. "I'd like to believe that," she murmured, mustering a small smile. "I really would."

Just then, thoughts not her own intruded on Ashley's mind. *Ash?* Andros's voice asked tentatively. *Are you okay?*

She couldn't help the smile lit her face. *I'm fine,* she thought, concentrating on Andros. *We'll be there in a minute.*

*All right,* he said, his voice fading. *Sorry to bother you. *

*Andros!* She reached out, feeling as though his presence were slipping away.

It came back as strong as before, and this time she recognized the glow on the edge of her perception as him. *What?*

*Sorry,* she thought, a little sheepishly. *But you didn't bother me--and it felt weird, you going away like that.*

There was silence for a moment. *You're incredible, did you know that?* he asked finally.

She shook her head, realizing all of a sudden that Cassie was regarding her strangely. *Tell me later?* she asked, trying to divide her attention and failing miserably.

*Sure,* he answered, seeming to understand. This time she listened as his presence waned, and she realized that the glow did not fade entirely from her mind. She could almost sense him, just inside her conscious range of perception.

"Ashley?" Cassie was asking, when she focused on her friend once more. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Ashley assured her. "Nothing's wrong…" She trailed off, knowing that wouldn't be answer enough. "Well--it's a secret for a secret, okay?"

She didn't have any particular reason not to tell the others, but she hoped it would make Cassie feel better. Her friend nodded immediately, and Ashley said, "You know how Andros can talk to Zhane telepathically?"

Ashley saw a flicker of comprehension in her eyes. "Don't tell me you can--"

Ashley nodded, unable to keep a happy smile off her face. "He can talk to me like that, too. And he can hear me, sometimes. He was just asking if I was okay--I guess I've been gone kind of a while."

"Just now?" Cassie repeated. "That's why you spaced on me?"

"It's hard to concentrate on two conversations at once," she tried to explain, but Cassie just grinned.

"That is so cool," her friend opined, taking her arm. "But he's right; you have been gone a long time. And I'm hungry!"

Cassie had hidden her earlier sadness, assuming the cheerful and flamboyant persona that she so often used to keep the world from seeing her real feelings. It had taken months of knowing her for Ashley to realize that it *was* a persona--a disguise for the serious person underneath. This time, though, there was nothing she could say that would comfort the girl beneath the mask.

"Me too," Ashley said with a smile, letting her friend pretend nothing was wrong. They would just have to wait and see, and if Cassie could laugh instead of crying in the meantime, it would be a good thing. She touched the control panel by the door, and they sauntered out into the corridor arm in arm.

***

Carlos looked up as Ashley's voice drifted down the hall, soon followed by her presence in the hallway outside the holding bay. Cassie was with her, and the two girls entered the room with their arms linked together.

He smiled at the display of solidarity. The two had hung out in such completely different circles before becoming Rangers that he doubted if they ever would have met each other, let alone gotten to know each other. It was good to be reminded of how strong team friendships were.

He was also relieved to notice that Cassie was wearing jean shorts and a pink butterfly t-shirt. He had hoped the clothing issue might occur to TJ and Ashley as well, but he supposed he couldn't blame them for not thinking of it. He himself had only realized this morning that out of the now seven Rangers on board, Phantom was the only one without a uniform.

It hadn't seemed to matter as much when the other Ranger was wearing his own clothes--whether they were a uniform or not, they were his. In Earth civilian clothes, though, which he could not possibly be as comfortable in, Carlos was afraid the other would feel undeniably out of place.

Belatedly, he realized that Zhane had gotten to his feet as soon as the girls entered. Carlos shot a look in TJ's direction, and saw the Blue Ranger raise an eyebrow as he returned the glance. They were rarely so polite with one another--the girls were part of the team, after all, to be treated no differently than the rest of them.

With Zhane's courtesy prodding them on, though, they scrambled to their feet as well. They were only seconds behind Andros in following his friend's example, and Ashley and Cassie regarded them all in surprise.

"Wow," Ashley said, obviously amused. "We don't get that kind of reception very often."

"I'm surprised," Zhane replied quickly, smiling at both of them. "For ladies as beautiful as yourselves, I would have thought it would be an everyday occurrence."

Carlos glanced at TJ again, and stifled a grin as the other rolled his eyes. Zhane had inspired the same reaction in him the first time, but neither Cassie nor Ashley seemed to mind much.

"Zhane," Andros interjected, taking on the task of introductions, "This is Cassie, from Earth. She's the Pink Astro Ranger."

Zhane stepped out from behind the table, and Andros added, "Cassie, this is Zhane, the Silver Astro Ranger." 

Carlos noted briefly that Andros didn't give either Cassie's last name or Zhane's home planet, but the scene in front of him distracted him before he could wonder about it. Ashley had gone to stand beside Andros, leaving Cassie on her own as Zhane approached and held his hand out to her.

She smiled at him and offered her hand in return, but as Carlos had expected, the Silver Ranger did not simply shake it. Instead, he took her hand and raised it to his lips. Kissing her fingers, he told her warmly, "I'm pleased to meet you."

Phantom, unfortunately, chose exactly that moment to walk in. Carlos looked over in time to see a flicker of fierce jealousy on the other's face as he hesitated in the doorway, watching Zhane and Cassie.

Cassie probably didn't help matters by blushing. Pulling her hand away from Zhane, she murmured, "Nice to meet you too."

Phantom's expression had smoothed over almost immediately, and when Cassie glanced in his direction, his face was impassive. He entered the room calmly, as though he had not just looked like Zhane could disappear from the face of the universe without inconveniencing him in the slightest.

Andros took a step away from his own place, putting him a little closer to Zhane. He probably meant well, but from Carlos's point of view, it only looked like the Red Ranger was backing up his friend. He wondered if Andros had even noticed the sudden tension in the room.

Ashley had, if he hadn't. "Hi Phantom," she said cheerfully, before Andros could introduce him. She practically bounced over to him, hair swinging as she took his arm and pulled him forward.

*Only Ashley would dare do that,* Carlos thought, amused. Phantom did look a little surprised, but not particularly displeased.

"Phantom, this is Zhane," she said, stopping beside Cassie and just a few feet from the Silver Ranger. "Zhane, this is the Phantom Ranger."

Then she looked over at Andros and cocked her head. "How'd I do?"

Her expression was so expectant that Carlos couldn't help but grin. Andros was not immune to her charm either, of course, and the Red Ranger's lips quirked upward. He nodded to her, and she flashed a brilliant smile in his direction.

If Carlos hadn't been looking right at him, he might not have seen Andros's features soften. The look was gone as quickly as it had come, but there was no doubt about it--that smile had made their stoic leader go starry-eyed, if only for a moment.

"Just 'the Phantom Ranger'?" Zhane asked, dragging Carlos's attention back to the introductions. "No name?"

Startled, Carlos tried to glance at Phantom without the other noticing. None of them had ever questioned his apparent wish to remain anonymous, and though Carlos had wondered in the beginning, now the other Ranger had become simply "Phantom". It had been days since Carlos had considered the fact that they still didn't know his real name.

Phantom stared at Zhane, and the room suddenly seemed very quiet. "You may call me Phantom," he said at last, his tone neutral but firm enough that it was clear he would take no argument on the subject.

Zhane frowned, oblivious to the unspoken warning in Phantom's tone. "So is this a new Ranger naming system that no one told me about? Does that make me 'Silver'?"

Carlos tried very hard not to smile at Zhane's words. While his point might be valid, his tone was borderline mocking, and Carlos suspected Phantom would not react to it well.

The other Rangers could tease each other to their hearts' content, but it was obvious that Phantom had something in his past that he didn't want to talk about. The Turbo team had tried to respect his desire for privacy, and yesterday had made Carlos think that they could be friends without knowing what he was hiding. But Zhane was clearly not willing to let it lie.

Phantom continued to look at him for a moment. Then, "I would call you Silver if you wished me to," he said quietly. "I ask only that you extend to me the same courtesy."

"But why--" Zhane cut off abruptly, glancing over his shoulder. Following his gaze, Carlos saw Andros glaring at the Silver Ranger.

Reluctantly, Zhane turned back to Phantom and offered his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Phantom."

Phantom looked a little wary of Zhane's sudden change of heart, but after a moment he extended his own hand, and the two clasped wrists. *Same thing he and Andros did, a few nights ago,* Carlos noted idly. *I wonder if that's some kind of Kerovan greeting.*

"I am honored to make your acquaintance," Phantom replied, and Carlos felt his lips twitch wryly. He wondered if that had been as hard to say as it had sounded.

"Great," Ashley said happily, her enthusiasm once more dissolving the tension a little. "Does this mean we can finish eating now?"

Carlos laughed, and he saw TJ grinning. "My thoughts exactly," the Blue Ranger put in.

Zhane smiled too, but he kept his eyes on Phantom until Andros clapped his shoulder and drew him back toward the table. Ashley followed them, and Carlos pushed his dishes a little closer to hers to make room for two more at the end of the table.

She smiled her understanding and moved her stool toward the corner of the table, dragging her own plate to give him more room. The move put her that much closer to Andros, and the Red Ranger looked over at her as he sat down. "Don't I get any room?" he complained.

"You have room," Ashley countered, sitting down beside him and shifting her silverware back into position. "Just because you have issues with sharing…"

She trailed off, glancing over at him with a smile on her face. It must have been a private joke, because the instant their eyes met, he returned the smile with one of his own and reached out to squeeze her hand.

Then Cassie was sitting down on Carlos's left, and he turned to make sure she had enough room. Phantom took the place to her left, at the end of the table, and Carlos winced a little as he realized they three--in civilian clothes--had ended up next to each other. He knew none of them wanted this to look like taking sides, but the initial sparks between Zhane and Phantom had not helped the situation.

The slightly uncomfortable silence lingered for only a few seconds before TJ looked up and asked, "Hey, Zhane, can you pass me the ketchup?"

Zhane glanced around the table in confusion. "Sorry; what?"

Ashley leaned in front of Andros to grab the ketchup and pass it to TJ. "'Scuse me," she apologized, but he just smiled at her.

From Carlos's other side, Cassie laughed. "The ketchup," she repeated. "TJ puts it on everything he eats. It's kind of frightening."

"Untrue," TJ said, pointing his fork at her. "I don't, for example, put it on my scrambled eggs." He looked pointedly at her plate.

She reached across the table to snatch the ketchup from his hands. "But putting it on eggs is normal. Putting it on toast is just weird."

"Hey!" TJ exclaimed, making no move to reclaim the ketchup. "I wasn't done with that!"

She grinned at him. "If I waited till you were done, there wouldn't be any left."

TJ gave her a "very funny" look, and she passed the ketchup back. Carlos was tempted to intercept it as it went by, just to annoy TJ, but Ashley beat him to it. She had to reach in front of him to do it, but she managed to snag the ketchup from Cassie's hand before TJ could take it.

He gave a mock-exasperated sigh. "What is this, keep-away?"

Zhane glanced at Andros, and Carlos saw the two lock gazes. He paused, watching them, as Ashley and TJ sparred verbally over the ketchup. The two Kerovan Rangers seemed completely oblivious to the argument, and indeed to anything in the room except each other. He could only assume they were using the telepathy Zhane had mentioned two days before.

Still, it was a little odd, Carlos reflected as TJ managed to regain control of the ketchup once more. Zhane had been able to "talk" with Andros and still stay perfectly aware of his surroundings--why the sudden intense focus?

Ashley, no longer distracted by the ketchup fight, noticed as well. She reached out and ran her fingers through his hair, tucking it behind his ear. He turned his head suddenly, catching her eye with a surprised expression, and Zhane blinked.

"No offense," Ashley said, a smile on her face. "But we can't hear you guys, remember?"

Andros looked around the nearly silent table. Phantom was studiously ignoring them all, and Cassie was picking at her food while TJ and Carlos exchanged glances. The mock-fight over the ketchup notwithstanding, it was certainly one of their more strained meals. Unfortunately, no one seemed to know quite what to do about it.

"Sorry," Andros offered after a moment, looking back at Ashley. It was not a word Carlos heard him use very often, but it seemed to be answer enough for her. He didn't offer any more explanation, but she smiled at him anyway.

"It sounds like you guys finished the repairs yesterday," Andros continued a moment later, clearly determined to make up for his lack of participation in the general conversation thus far. "Will we be ready to lift off after breakfast?"

"Should be," TJ answered, pausing with his half-eaten toast in hand. He repeated what he had told them earlier, possibly for Cassie and Phantom's benefit. "I want to run a few tests on the port thruster before we leave the atmosphere, but other than that, we're good to go."

"I have done that sort of repair before," Phantom interjected. "It will hold."

"I think so too," Cassie said, looking over at him, "but the tests are routine checks for *any* damaged part of the Megaship. It'll only take a few minutes."

"After all, that's what they said about the Silver Astro powers," Zhane chimed in. "'They'll hold.' Two years after the explosion that almost burned them out, I woke up." He gave a wry smile. "It's safer not to count on anything."

Carlos was looking at his plate, so he heard Cassie's startled inhalation without seeing the expression on her face. When he did look up from his food, though, he saw an expression of pain quickly being replaced by one of anger. Both were so strange to see on her that he opened his mouth to ask what was wrong--but then she squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her fingers to her temples.

"Cassie?" Ashley and Phantom asked, at the same time.

"I'm sorry," Phantom said suddenly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't realize--" He cut off abruptly, maybe realizing the others were listening intently.

Carlos frowned. *What's *he* apologizing for?*

"Ashley's the one who's supposed to be getting headaches, Cass," TJ reminded her jokingly, but his expression was worried too. "Are you okay?"

She nodded, letting her hands fall and managing a smile. "Yeah, I'm okay. You're right; it's just a headache--must have hit my head on something yesterday without realizing it."

"You should have DECA check you out," Ashley said, obviously concerned.

Cassie caught Phantom's eye, and to Carlos's surprise, she nodded slowly. "Yeah. I think I will. 'Scuse me, guys; I'll be right back."

As quickly as that, she had gone. By the time she returned, the conversation had shifted back to yesterday's repairs, and TJ was recounting the story of breaking Cassie's morpher.

Carlos looked around as he heard her reenter the bay, and she gave them all a thumbs up sign and a smile. Reading that to mean nothing wrong, TJ went on with his story and kept most of the table amused while they finished eating. 

Something about the Blue Ranger made him a terrific storyteller--his presentation, or his dry humor… Carlos wasn't sure what it was, but he was glad TJ had finished his breakfast first. His words kept the rest of the team occupied with something other than themselves, which seemed to be a good thing.

*It's almost like it was with Andros in the beginning,* Carlos thought, looking around covertly and seeing the awkwardness of the Rangers at the table. Everyone seemed to be trying not to look at someone else--and Zhane and Phantom seemed to be the focal points of the discomfort.

*One, we could have dealt with,* Carlos thought. *One or the other--but both?* He caught TJ's eye as the other Ranger launched into a description of various failings of the safety harnesses they had had to use to fix the second hull breach. *Both of them will certainly make life interesting.*

_fin_


	24. Team Conflict

_Disclaimer: Saban owns the Power Rangers. What, you were expecting something witty?_

**Team Conflict  
by Starhawk**

"The preflight sequence is complete," DECA's steady monotone informed them. "All systems are operational. Power levels are at ninety-eight percent."

"We're ready to go," Andros said. He looked up from one of the auxiliary consoles, where he would monitor structural integrity as the Megaship climbed out of the atmosphere. "Take us out."

From Andros's place at the helm, Zhane announced, "Thrusters online."

Phantom wasn't sure what had made Andros ask Zhane to pilot the ship--Ashley was just as qualified, and she hadn't been in a coma for two years. But he had no say in the matter, so he stood by the auxiliary navigation console and watched the power curve on the thrusters climb as Zhane nudged the ship into liftoff.

"The port thruster is functioning within normal limits," he reported a moment later, and Cassie looked up from her place next to Zhane to smile at him.

The corner of his mouth lifted in answer. Her silent support made him feel a little better, and he glanced back down at the thruster indicators as their ascent continued. TJ and Carlos were still working on vectors for their test maneuvers, so there shouldn't have been anything there but the smooth power curve of recently activated thrusters. He watched anyway--

And frowned in alarm as the curve spiked suddenly. He opened his mouth to say something when he realized that the starboard thruster was behaving exactly the same way. Whatever the problem was, it wasn't only affecting the damaged thruster.

"Zhane!" Ashley exclaimed, startling him out of his concern. She sounded both indignant and amused. "We do have *standard* tests."

He looked up in time to see Zhane shrug. "What's the harm in a victory roll?" the Silver Ranger asked innocently.

"It could have put undue stress on the thrusters, that's what," Cassie said sharply, and he agreed whole-heartedly. Zhane didn't seem to understand the seriousness of the situation.

Zhane turned toward her, and she blinked, shaking her head. "Sorry, Zhane. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"Zhane," Andros interrupted. "Let's save the victory rolls for *after* we complete the tests, all right?"

Zhane waved cheerfully in his direction, not at all troubled by the reprimand. "You got it." Inclining his head toward Cassie, he added, "I'm sorry if I upset you."

She just laughed. "No, *I'm* sorry. I don't know what came over me." She flashed an apologetic smile in his direction, and Phantom felt his heart clench.

He hated the feeling of jealousy that consumed him when she looked at someone else like that. He would gladly do without the feeling, but it wasn't something he could control. *First TJ, now Zhane,* he thought, looking helplessly down at the console. 

He tried to remind himself that she loved *him*… and in his heart, he believed that. She had told him so often enough, and he felt occasional flickers of the feeling through the empathic link they shared. But there was always some tiny shred of a reason that he should worry, and this time he couldn't help remembering her tears this morning.

He had known she was upset, but she wouldn't tell him why. Maybe he should have tried harder--maybe he shouldn't have let her "distract" him. But he could never think properly with her as close as she had been then…

"You should have the initial vectors now, Zhane," TJ said, looking up from the grid he and Carlos were using to plot the test maneuvers.

"They're here," the Silver Ranger confirmed, touching the thruster controls to initiate the tests. The nav comp talked to the thrusters, and the Megaship was put through its paces. Zhane leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head.

Phantom looked at him for a moment, trying not to comment. But the other's attitude only annoyed him more the longer he watched, and at last he said, "I suggest that if something does go wrong with the thrusters, Zhane, you will be far more useful if you are actually paying attention."

He hadn't meant it to sound quite so rude, but Zhane turned in his chair almost as though he'd been expecting it. "You seemed confident enough earlier," Zhane pointed out. "Why the sudden doubt?"

"I do not doubt my repair work," Phantom retorted. "I merely feel that your attitude is inappropriate for someone who is piloting a battleship."

Zhane raised an eyebrow. "I don't see you working too hard over there. Shouldn't you be monitoring something?" 

"My inattention will not cause the ship to crash," he replied darkly. "Yours might."

He was well aware that the others were exchanging glances, uncertain of what to do. He saw Andros, on the other side of the Bridge, turn away from the station he was standing in front of and regard the two of them with a confused and somewhat exasperated expression.

Zhane must have noticed too, for he chuckled suddenly. "We're not going to crash. Lighten up, Sa--Phantom."

He didn't miss the Silver Ranger's slip, and his eyes narrowed. That was no mistake. The other had deliberately started to say his real name and then stopped, using the title the Earth Rangers had given him only to mock him.

He had suspected it was only a matter of time before one or both of the Kerovan Rangers recognized him, but he hadn't anticipated the feeling of helplessness their discovery would cause. He felt as though he was sliding inevitably backwards, into the darkness from which the Shadow Ranger had come, and there was nothing he could do to prevent the crumbling of yet another life around him.

"Zhane," Cassie snapped, and her voice lightened the encroaching shadows a little. "He's right; we *will* crash if you don't pay attention. Turn around."

Her tone brooked no argument, and Zhane turned around, shooting her a startled look as he did so. But it was Andros who started to speak, only to be cut off by Carlos's announcement, "We've completed the test maneuvers."

"If anyone cares," TJ added under his breath.

Phantom turned back to his console, closing his eyes. He could see, suddenly, the rift that threatened to form in this team, a team that had once been as inseparable as his own. His first friends had been torn from him through his own failing, and he couldn't watch the Astro Rangers divide because of him as well.

"I'm taking us into the upper atmosphere," Zhane's voice said, after a moment of quiet.

"No problems so far," Andros reported.

Opening his eyes, he studied the station in front of him. It allowed him to watch the Megaship's progress as it climbed higher, leaving the desert planet behind. Finally, they were beyond the stratosphere and heading slowly into deeper space. If there were any problems with the hull patches, they would show up now.

"Structural integrity is at ninety-five percent of optimum," Andros announced, and Ashley clapped once. Phantom could imagine the Red Ranger smiling over at her, but he did not turn around.

"Set a course for Earth," Andros said, and his voice was indeed smiling. They two were possibly the only untroubled ones on the Bridge. "Hyperush nine."

***

"You can't be serious," Zhane said, pacing down the corridor of deck six. "How could Zordon possibly have known that the Earth Rangers would leave their home planet--and in a shuttle that just happened to be compatible with Kerovan technology?"

Andros shrugged. Taking Zhane to get acquainted with the Megazord shuttle had simply been a way to get him away from Phantom. He couldn't understand why the two were so at odds with each other, but it was starting to affect the rest of the team as well.

"From what you've said," Zhane persisted, "he'd have to have known the Earth Rangers would lose their powers. He'd have to have had the specs for both the shuttle they took *and* the Megaship. And somehow he'd have to have gotten the plans for the Megazord back to Earth before the Earth Rangers left."

"That was probably the easiest part," Andros interjected, realizing Zhane wasn't going to let the subject drop. The hangar bay doors opened as they approached, and they entered the chamber that held both the shuttle and Phantom's fighter in drydock. "The Earth Rangers worked with another interdimensional being after Zordon--all he would have had to do would be to send them to her, and she could have kept them safe until they were needed."

He looked back as Zhane stopped, looking around the bay curiously. "That's a starfighter," he said, matter-of-factly.

"Phantom's ship," Andros explained. "The shuttle's on the other side of the bay, in the launching booth. It's kept ready for automatic launch all the time, so the Megazord sequence can be activated without any of us having to be on the shuttle."

Zhane raised an eyebrow as he followed Andros over to the launching booth. "Can it fight like that?"

"Not really. Alpha can control it, to a certain extent, but mostly it's just to save us time." He pressed his morpher against the access panel outside the booth, and a door slid open to allow them in.

They had to climb through the staging to reach the shuttle's airlock. Normally, the Rangers teleported in, but NASADA had originally intended the shuttle for use by Earth's space program, and as such it had a single manual entrance.

Pausing on the metallic landing outside the airlock, Andros slapped the access panel and turned back to offer Zhane a hand. The Silver Ranger grabbed it with his right hand and took hold of the railing with the other, hauling himself up.

The airlock slid open without fuss, since the pressure on both sides was nearly equal already, and they both stepped inside. They had to wait for the outer door to close before the inner one would open, and Zhane fidgeted through the few seconds that took.

Andros shot him a sympathetic look as they stepped out into the shuttle's main living area. "The claustrophobia hasn't gotten any better, has it."

Zhane let out his breath in a sigh. "You thought two years in stasis would help?" he asked wryly.

Concerned, Andros assured him, "We don't have to stay--I just thought you'd want to see what it looks like."

"No, I'm fine," his friend answered, taking another deep breath. "This isn't nearly as bad as the airlock." He studied the room, then added, "On the other hand, I can't imagine spending days at a time in here."

Andros smiled. "I couldn't either, believe me. But they were only on board for a few hours before DECA picked them up."

Zhane gave him a look, and he knew what the other was thinking. If DECA *hadn't* picked them up, they could have been on this shuttle indefinitely--a prospect that Zhane would abhor. Andros couldn't blame him, especially knowing that the other Ranger had been trapped in a collapsed building for hours after Dark Spectre's initial assault on KO-35.

"How nice," Zhane said, straight-faced, and Andros couldn't help grinning.

"Wait till you see the cockpit."

Zhane did follow him into the cockpit, and he nodded while Andros pointed out the modifications the Rangers had made to it. He watched while Andros explained the stations they had set up, and the routing of controls. But he said less and less the longer they were in there, and Andros could see his discomfort growing.

He knew his friend wouldn't say anything until it got unbearable, so he finished quickly and ushered Zhane back out into the main room. "You did a lot of that work yourself," Zhane said after a moment, and only someone who knew him well would notice the deliberate way he was speaking to cover his nervousness. "From what you said before, I thought Zordon's plans integrated the two systems automatically."

The hiss of the airlock's hydraulics made Zhane jump, and Andros frowned. He hadn't realized the other was so tense--he should have suggested they leave long before this.

He glanced over at the airlock, and a smile temporarily took the place of his frown as Ashley stepped through. "Hey, guys," she said cheerfully.

For some reason, she had changed out of her uniform, and he couldn't help noticing that her yellow print sleeveless tee was *very* sleeveless. Two ribbons crossed each shoulder and tied at the top, but other than that her neck and shoulders were bare.

*Andros,* Zhane thought at him, and his tone was distinctly amused, *you're staring.*

Andros blinked and glanced away, embarrassed. He heard Zhane greet Ashley, giving his friend time to compose himself. "Hi Ashley," he managed at last, giving her a reasonably normal smile.

She wasn't fooled. "Did I interrupt something?" Ashley asked, concerned. "I can leave--"

"No," Andros hurried to assure her. "I just finished explaining the shuttle controls to Zhane. You're not interrupting at all."

"And even if you were," Zhane added with his usual flair, "we would take the beauty of your presence over our conversation any time."

Andros tried not to roll his eyes, but Ashley only laughed. "Personally, I'd rather *not* interrupt your conversation." She leaned toward Zhane and said in a stage whisper, "I love the sound of Andros's voice."

She was looking at him as she said it, and he shifted a little uncomfortably. Zhane grinned, though, and Andros wondered if it was a good thing that he had been right about how well they'd get along. He suspected their friendship would involve teasing him at every opportunity.

Ashley saw his chagrinned expression and came over to take his arm. "Andros, I'm just kidding," she said, smiling at him fondly.

He felt his heart melt at that smile, and he couldn't help but return it. "I know," he told her, patting her hand. "I was just thinking that with both of you around, I'm going to get twice as much teasing as I used to."

Ashley giggled. "That's because we like to see you smile."

This time, Zhane laughed. "See, I could never say something like that and get away with it. But coming from you, it's cute." He put an arm around Andros's shoulders and winked at her. "I think we're going to get along very well."

She stretched out her free hand and clasped his, and for the briefest instant, the three of them stood there, together and completely at peace.

Then Ashley pulled away, taking a step toward the airlock. "I have to get back up to the Bridge, but you can always come up if you want. I just came down to let you know that Cassie and Carlos took Phantom on an official tour of the Megaship."

"Ah," Zhane said, squeezing Andros's shoulder and then letting go as well. "Phantom's gone, so it's safe for me to go back to the Bridge, huh?"

"Well, I wasn't going to say that," Ashley answered wryly, catching his eye. "But yes. That's what I meant." 

Andros glanced at his friend, wondering what he would say to her admission. He still didn't understand Zhane's reaction to their ally, and he couldn't predict how the other would respond.

Zhane just smiled. "Well, let's go then. I'm ready to get off this shuttle--no offense."

"None taken," Ashley said with a wry grin. "It's not the most exciting place," she added, misinterpreting his remark. But Zhane didn't correct her, and Andros said nothing, knowing the other preferred not to talk about his reaction to small spaces.

They all went through the airlock together with a little room left over, since it had been made for three people wearing space suits. At least, there seemed to be extra room to Andros--one look at Zhane told him that his friend did not share that opinion. But the Silver Ranger managed to hold still this time, and if he was a little too eager to get through the outer door on their way out, Ashley didn't seem to notice.

Andros gestured to her, and she stepped out next. He followed, hitting the access panel and hearing the door slide shut behind him. Zhane was standing by the railing, making no attempt to climb down, and Andros went first to give his friend time to collect himself.

The moment his feet touched the ground, he looked up, and to his relief he saw Zhane climbing down the lower ladder of the staging. Ashley was waiting at the cross-section just above him, and as Zhane stepped off the ladder, she grabbed a nearby support and swung out into the air. 

Watching her, Andros's stomach lurched. Her feet found the ladder a moment later, and she let go of her previous handhold to hang on to the sides of the ladder as she climbed down. But her unorthodox maneuver was as frightening as it was graceful, no matter how many times he reminded himself that she had the increased strength and reflexes of a Ranger.

*You're staring again,* Zhane said, standing at his side.

Andros tore his eyes away from Ashley's lithe body and glared at his friend. Zhane just shrugged, a smile playing about his lips.

"All right," Ashley said, dropping to the ground beside them. "Let's go."

TJ was the only one on the Bridge when they arrived, and he looked up from the pilot's station as they entered. "Hey," he greeted them. "One half of the warring faction has arrived."

Andros sighed. "Let's try not to think of it as a war, all right?"

He saw Ashley and TJ exchange glances. "Look," Ashley said at last. "We can't keep this up. It's a big ship, but it's not that big. Eventually, you guys will have to be in the same room with each other for more than a few minutes at a time."

Zhane gave her a blank look. "Me?"

"Yes, you," she said firmly, not at all deceived by his careful innocence. "What's up with you and Phantom? Did you two know each other before this?"

"You could say that," Zhane muttered, and Andros shot him a warning glance. 

*What?* Zhane asked silently. *You didn't tell her?*

Andros shook his head, and Ashley noticed immediately. "What is it? What are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Andros denied, even as Zhane shot him an incredulous look.

"Andros," he said aloud. "If you don't tell them, I will. He's practically a part of your team--they deserve to know."

Andros stared at him in surprise. It obviously meant a lot to Zhane that the others know of Phantom's identity, and he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. *Why are you doing this?* he asked, and Zhane returned his glance with a surprised look of his own.

*Andros, information about the Elisian team is publicly available. All any of them have to do is search galactic databanks for an image correlation, and they could find out who he is.*

Andros had to admit the truth of that. But the fact that Phantom had not volunteered the information himself made him pause. There must be some reason that he insisted on going by "Phantom" rather than his real name, and Andros could not bring himself to override his wishes.

"You tell them, then," he said quietly, taking a step back. "It's not my place."

Zhane hesitated. *If it means that much to you…*

Andros shook his head. *No, you're right. When he demorphed, he must have known that any of us could find out who he is. He made his decision, and he's never mentioned it one way or another--so I guess there's no real reason you *shouldn't* tell them.*

TJ had come forward to stand just behind the second row of stations, his arms folded across his chest. "Look, Zhane was right when he said Phantom is practically a part of our team. Whatever you two know about him can't possibly be enough to change that."

Zhane shrugged noncommittally, and Andros saw Ashley glance uncertainly at him. *Andros?* she asked hesitantly. *What's going on?*

"Zhane, just tell them," Andros said with a sigh. "It's nothing bad," he told the others, then winced. "Well, it is, but it's no reflection on him. I think he just--can't talk about it."

"His teammates were killed," Zhane said bluntly. "About three years ago, Dark Spectre launched an assault on the League's frontier, and Elisia--his home planet--was one of the first to be attacked. Everyone thought the entire Elisian Ranger team died in the onslaught."

Andros saw Ashley's eyes widen, and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

"A few months later, though," Zhane continued, "the Shadow Ranger turned up. He got involved in League politics awfully quickly for someone who wasn't supposed to know anybody, and he was the driving force behind the creation of a defensive force that formed soon after to protect the frontier."

"Phantom is the Shadow Ranger," TJ surmised, no expression on his face.

Andros nodded. "He was known as the Shadow Ranger for several years, actually. It was only after his time on Earth that he started going by 'Phantom'."

Ashley looked a little sheepish. "We didn't know he had another name."

"How did he survive, when the rest of his team didn't?" TJ asked suddenly.

Zhane leaned forward, giving the sudden impression of pouncing. "That's what *I* want to know. Psych profiles of Ranger teams show that the leader of a team is the least likely to live through an assault that threatens the entire team--so how *did* he survive?"

Andros stared at him in shock. "Zhane, you can't be suggesting…" He couldn't even finish the sentence.

Zhane just shrugged again. "He went to a lot of trouble to make sure no one knew who he was afterwards. All I want to know is how he lived when none of the others did--and why he won't talk about it."

"He lived," Phantom's voice said quietly from the door, "because the woman he loved gave her own life to save his."

Andros started, straightening up from where he'd been leaning against one of the auxiliary consoles. He saw Ashley and TJ look up guiltily as well to see Phantom standing in the doorway.

He stepped onto the Bridge, and Carlos and Cassie silently walked in behind him. Carlos went unobtrusively to check the structural integrity readout, but Cassie stayed beside him as he regarded the other Rangers with a carefully controlled expression. "He was gravely injured when he let anger over his best friend's death consume him, and knew nothing more until he woke up days later in a trauma ward on Eltare."

No one spoke, not daring to interrupt. Carlos turned away from the readout to listen as Phantom continued. "He was told the four people he loved most in the universe were gone forever, and that he himself had almost joined them several times in the past few days. He was told that the girl he had loved for years had sacrificed herself to keep him from being killed while he lay unconscious, and that he would still be weeks in recovering."

He paused, and Ashley took a step forward. "Phantom," she said, her voice soft and sympathetic, and he turned his head to look at her.

"My name is Saryn," he told her, with quiet dignity. "I was the Red Ranger of Elisia for two years."

Andros caught his eye, nodding to him in silent respect, and Saryn returned the gesture gravely. Zhane, however, was not content to let things rest. "So why did you hide who you were? Why let everyone think you had died?"

He turned his gaze on Zhane. "Because it was easier," he said steadily. "I had lost everything I ever cared about, and I couldn't continue to be the person I was before without the people who *made* me that person."

There was a sudden movement beside him, and he glanced over at Cassie. Andros, following his gaze, was startled to see tears in her eyes. Saryn did not seem surprised, however.

He just sighed, and reached out to gently stroke her face. "I am truly sorry, Cassie," he murmured. "I do not know how to keep you from feeling this."

She shook her head a little, forcing a smile. "It's not your fault. I don't know why I can't block it out…"

A single tear slid down her cheek, and his hand dropped to her shoulder and pulled her into a wordless embrace. She leaned against him, and Andros shot a covert glance around the Bridge. The others looked as puzzled as he felt--except for TJ, who still seemed more pensive than anything else.

"Did I miss something?" Ashley asked hesitantly, catching his eye before looking back at the two by the door. "Are you--okay, Cassie?"

Cassie nodded, not pulling away from Saryn's embrace. "I'm fine," she murmured, her voice only a little muffled.

Saryn sighed again. "No, she is not. She is feeling what I am feeling, and she is not as used to dealing with it."

He stroked her hair gently, not looking at the others. "It happens, sometimes, that two of my people will bond empathically. That has happened between Cassie and I, and I fear she is more sensitive to it than I."

Carlos muttered something to himself, but on the quiet Bridge, it carried clearly to everyone. "Is this whole team psychic?"

Cassie, still pressed up against Saryn's chest, giggled a little, and Andros saw Ashley smile. TJ laughed aloud, and Carlos looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry," he offered. "I didn't mean that to be so loud."

Andros smiled a little, glancing inadvertently at Zhane.

The Silver Ranger was staring at Cassie as though he'd never seen her before. *Zhane?* Andros asked, not wanting to draw attention to his friend by saying anything out loud.

*She's--* Zhane's thought dissolved into incoherence, and Andros waited for him to figure out what he meant. *She's feeling everything he's feeling?* the other asked at last.

Andros had to keep himself from shrugging. *That's what empathy is. I don't know why it's affecting her, since she's not Elisian, but… I do know I've never seen Cassie cry before.*

"All right," TJ demanded, glancing over at them, "anyone here who can read a mind *other* than their own, raise your hand."

Andros glanced over at Ashley, and found her watching him as well. "Are we that obvious?" he asked, trying not to show his embarrassment.

She laughed. "TJ's just annoyed because he can't do it," she said, shooting an amused look in the Blue Ranger's direction.

"I don't know about you," TJ answered with a grin that said he was kidding, "but I'm starting to feel distinctly left out."

Ashley laughed again, but before she could answer, Zhane said quietly, "I was just realizing how little I know about you guys." Looking over at Saryn and Cassie, he added, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize…"

Andros couldn't tell whether he was apologizing for his implied accusation, or simply for causing Cassie distress. Saryn gave Zhane a measured look and answered neutrally, "You know now. I would prefer not to discuss it any further."

Zhane blinked, and Andros couldn't help thinking he was about to say something to aggravate the situation. Before he could intervene, though, Carlos spoke up.

"I don't mean to press the issue," he said, and Cassie finally lifted her head, trying to inconspicuously rub her eyes. "But--what should we call you, now?"

Saryn let Cassie step away, but Andros noticed that he kept one hand possessively on her shoulder. "Cassie calls me Saryn," he said quietly, "and I find that I like hearing it again, after all these years. But Phantom is my name now almost as much as Saryn was then, and I do not mind if you wish to continue using it."

*He didn't answer the question,* Andros noticed, just as DECA interrupted, "Ten minutes to the edge of the Sol system."

"Thanks, DECA," Ashley answered automatically, glancing down at the console beside her.

Andros went over to stand beside her, and he heard Cassie ask quietly, "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

Looking over his shoulder, he saw Saryn nod and follow her out into the hallway. Then Ashley touched his arm to get his attention, and he looked back at the navigation panel in front of them.

"There's a NASADA probe out here that DECA didn't pick up last time," she pointed out, and he nodded.

"Alter course to avoid its sensor range," he told her, watching her make the appropriate corrections. "We don't want to interrupt their readings."

"Or screw up their navigation system, like last time," Carlos added wryly.

Andros just looked at him. "If your Earth probes were not so sensitive, the Megaship's presence would not have affected it."

"Hey," TJ protested. "NASADA built those probes with no League intervention--you have to admit they did a pretty good job to design them from scratch."

"Guys, guys," Ashley broke in, a smile in her voice. "In a few minutes we'll be home, and we can all have some time apart. I know you're just kidding, but no more fighting until we get there, okay?"

There was quiet for a moment. Then TJ remarked, "Oh yeah, I can't wait to get home and go to trig class…"

Carlos snickered at his sarcasm. "What, you're not looking forward to the exam?"

"I'm looking forward to Saturday night," TJ said fervently, "when it will all be over."

"At least for a week and a half," Ashley put in, and TJ grimaced at her.

"Thanks for reminding me, Ash."

Caught up in the realization that school would start for the Earth Rangers in less than two weeks, Andros didn't catch her retort. They would be back in classes, worrying over things he didn't even understand… and Ashley would be taken away from him again.

*We can say "later" for the rest of our lives,* he thought suddenly. *"We'll have time later", and "I'll make it up to you then"--but the truth is, there will always be something else to do, something else getting in the way. Zhane was right,* he realized, glancing over at his friend. *All we can do is make the most of the time we have right now.*

"Ashley," he said suddenly, and she looked away from the others. He tilted his head a little, silently asking her to step back with him. She did, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Zhane move to join TJ and Carlos on the other side of the Bridge, giving them the semblance of privacy.

"What's up?" she asked curiously.

He took a deep breath. *Why is this so hard?* he demanded of himself. She had already said yes; it was only up to him to make things more solid.

"You said you'd go out with me," he said, a little nervously. Her sudden smile made him feel better, and she nodded immediately. "But we never said when--and I was wondering… do you want to do something tonight?"

"I'd *love* to," she said, still smiling at him. "Want to get dinner first? Maybe at six?"

He felt an answering smile creeping across his own face. "That would be great."

Then Carlos's voice, quieter than usual but still easily audible on their side of the Bridge, asked, "Zhane, take a look at this and tell me if it's a bad thing."

Tearing his eyes away from Ashley's, Andros frowned across the Bridge. "What's wrong?"

Carlos stepped aside to let Zhane see whatever he'd been looking at. "Structural integrity is down two percent since takeoff," the Silver Ranger reported.

"And the problem seems to be concentrated around the hangar bay," TJ added, looking over his shoulder. "I wonder if the patch we put on it isn't holding up as well as it should."

Andros joined them so he could see for himself, but the readout told him nothing that they hadn't. He sighed. "We'll have to take a look at it once we get to Earth. Tomorrow," he added, feeling Ashley's sudden presence at his shoulder. A two percent decrease wasn't serious enough that it couldn't wait, and he wanted to be selfish for once.

"We're entering the Sol system," DECA announced. After a pause, she added, "We are receiving NASADA's recognition signal."

"Send it back," Andros replied automatically. Obviously, the Megaship didn't *need* NASADA's permission to enter the Sol system, but superior technology didn't give them the right to trespass where they weren't welcome. NASADA, of course, never failed to welcome them, and it was simple courtesy to return the gesture.

"NASADA has received our transmission," DECA answered, and Andros nodded.

Saryn and Cassie rejoined them on the Bridge as the Megaship came out of hyperspace, coasting past the Kuiper belt and on into Earth's solar system. Two of the gas giants slid by to the ship's starboard side, and moments later the second asteroid belt had flashed past and the thrusters were firing in reverse. Dumping the rest of its extrasolar velocity as the Megaship entered Mars' orbit, Earth became a visible point of light on the forward screen.

"So that's Earth, huh?" Zhane asked, as the light grew into a blue-green marble covered with swirling clouds.

"That's Earth," Ashley confirmed happily.

Andros shot his friend a warning look. It wasn't very polite to make disparaging remarks about someone's home planet, and though he didn't think Zhane would be that insensitive, he couldn't honestly put it past the Silver Ranger. Especially not after the other's confrontation with Saryn.

Zhane returned the look with an "oh please" glance. "It's beautiful," he said, and was rewarded with Ashley's smile.

"It's even more beautiful from the surface," TJ said with a grin. "And I, for one, can't wait to get back."

"Incoming video transmission from the Aquitian Rangers," DECA interjected.

"Open a link," Andros said, and there was a muted flash from somewhere behind him. He tensed, even as his brain recognized the brief glow as that produced when morphing energy excited local electrons.

He wasn't the only one to turn around. Every Ranger on the Bridge glanced over their shoulder at the flare--to see the Phantom Ranger morphed at Cassie's side.

*Of course,* Andros thought, turning back to the screen as the Aquitians' swirl logo disappeared. *He didn't build a new life for the Phantom just to reclaim his identity as Saryn the moment someone challenged him.* But it was still a little disconcerting to try and reconcile the two "different" people into one.

Justin's face replaced the logo, and Andros blinked. "Welcome home, guys," the former Blue Turbo Ranger said cheerfully, grinning at them.

"Justin!" Ashley exclaimed. She sounded delighted, and Andros smiled inadvertently. "What are you doing there?"

"We're just having a little reunion," he answered smugly, and pushed something on the console in front of him. The camera panned backward, to reveal what Andros assumed was the interior of the Aquitians' seaship.

Three people he didn't recognize stood behind Justin, and the Blue Aquitian Ranger was at his side. A blonde-haired girl put her hand on Justin's shoulder, and a youth with longer hair than Andros's clapped the Blue Aquitian Ranger on the back. "Billy here told us he was in the neighborhood, and we had to come and say hello."

"Tommy!" TJ exclaimed, and Carlos laughed.

"I knew you guys wouldn't be able to resist checking up on us," the Black Astro Ranger teased.

"This is so great!" Ashley took Andros's hand and grinned happily at the screen. "You all have to meet Andros, and Zhane--do you have time to hang around this afternoon?"

The blonde girl smiled and exchanged glances with the others. "I think we could find the time. I can't wait to hear how you're doing."

"We want to hear about you, too," Cassie said, stepping a little forward with a smile in her voice. "It's been a long time."

"Man, you can say that again," the boy on Justin's other side agreed. "I haven't even *met* you guys, but Justin's told me some--interesting stories."

"Justin…" TJ and Ashley exclaimed at the same time, and the former Blue Ranger grinned.

"Nothing but good stuff, honest," he said, looking earnestly at the screen. "Well, except for that time--"

His voice was suddenly muffled as the blonde girl clapped a hand over his mouth and smiled sweetly at them. "He can tell you about that later," she said, and Andros saw Ashley exchanging glances with the former Turbo Rangers out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, I think the Aquitian Rangers would like to talk to you before they leave," the longhaired boy told them, and the Blue Aquitian Ranger smiled at him.

Justin stepped out of the way, and Cetaci came forward to stand in front of the camera. "We welcome you home as well, Astro Rangers," she said, tilting her head to the side and pressing her fingertips and thumbs together.

Andros automatically mimicked the gesture. "Thank you," he said, conscious of Zhane watching him. The Silver Ranger had always teased him about the way he imitated other culture's rituals without realizing it. It could be extremely useful in diplomatic situations, but it really wasn't necessary when dealing with people he knew.

"We were successful in freeing Zordon," he said, hearing his words fall into Aquitian phrasing and trying to stop it.

Cetaci nodded before he could continue. "So we heard from Aquitar. Zordon of Eltare arrived on our planet almost two of your days ago."

"We thought that was where he would go," Andros agreed, looking over his shoulder at Phantom. "Unfortunately, we were too busy the last couple days to find out."

"I understand," Cetaci said, a slight smile on her face. "We have been busy here as well--and we have news that you should hear, as well as something that I believe you, Andros, will wish to have."

Andros frowned. "Why? What's happened?"

"We captured Astronema," Cetaci replied calmly.

Focused on the golden circle that glimmered in her hand as she lifted it high enough for them to see, Andros was oblivious to the exclamations of shock around him. He heard a rushing in his ears as his world narrowed to that tiny glittering disk, and the White Aquitian Ranger's voice seemed to come to him from somewhere far away. "She escaped several hours later--but she left this behind."

He raised his hand, disbelieving, to touch the chain that had hung around his neck ever since he was a small child. On it hung a gold disk--a locket, identical in every way to the one Cetaci now held.

_fin_


	25. Without You

_Disclaimer: Anybody who wants to sue over the fact that I don't own either Power Rangers or Matchbox 20 might possibly have a little too much time on their hands._

**Without You  
by Starhawk**

"She was in our custody for only three of your hours before our defenses were compromised, allowing her to teleport out," Cetaci told the Red Astro Ranger.

"Ecliptor," Carlos muttered, just as the Blue Aquitian Ranger added something under his breath about debugging the security systems.

In the shade of the lakeside clearing, Phantom smiled a little at Billy Cranston's annoyance. Apparently the field-testing done to date on the Aquitian seaship had not included a shakedown of their prisoner containment facilities.

On the other hand, they had probably not been expecting to catch Dark Spectre's pet villainess off guard.

Cetaci passed the locket to Andros, who clenched his fingers around it and stared at the White Ranger. "You said she left it behind?" he asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

Cetaci turned her head to regard one of her teammates, and Cestria stepped forward. From her explanation, it seemed Astronema had not had much choice in the matter. Phantom and Andros had both aided the Aquitian team of a year and a half ago, and apparently Cestria had remembered Andros's locket. Recognizing its duplicate, she had--in her own words--forced Astronema to part with it.

"Thank you," Andros said, lifting the gold pendant a little and nodding to her. "This means a great deal to me--though I would give even more to know how she got it."

"As would I," Cestria agreed, her soft features sympathetic.

Andros was staring at the glittering object in his hand, apparently oblivious to her words. Ashley put a hand on his shoulder, but to Phantom's surprise, the Red Ranger shrugged it off. He did not move away, but the distance between him and the others had grown in the past few minutes.

His visor's peripheral vision caught TJ's sudden movement, and the Blue Ranger said apologetically, "I hate to run out on everyone like this, especially now, but Carlos and I really need to get to class."

"And we should be on our way as well," Aura added. "Aquitar has been a long time without its Rangers."

Ashley looked at Andros, but he did not look up. "We really appreciate you covering for us," she said after a moment's pause. "Without you, we wouldn't have been able to take the chance of leaving Earth."

Her smile was sincere, and if Phantom hadn't known better, he wouldn't have had any idea that she was worrying over Andros. "The honor was ours," Cetaci replied, with a slight smile. She stepped forward and held out her hand.

Phantom tried not to let his surprise show--and then he realized it didn't matter, since none of them could see his expression anyway. Cetaci was a relatively new addition to the team, and to his knowledge, she had not interacted with Earth Rangers before this.

*Except Billy,* he thought, in sudden comprehension. Of course. The Blue Aquitian Ranger would have acquainted her with some of the more prevalent traditions on his home planet.

Ashley returned the handshake with a smile, and followed it by echoing the Aquitian gesture of respect. The other Aquitians stepped forward to take their leave of the Earth Rangers, but Billy's old teammates were far less formal. They engulfed their friend in hugs and even went so far as to make Cestria promise to take care of him--to Billy's obvious embarrassment.

The Yellow Aquitian Ranger just laughed and agreed, and Billy finally managed to extract himself from his friends' well wishing. Cestria put an arm around his waist, though, and he smiled at her as he turned to Phantom. "You'll come with us, I hope?" he asked. 

Phantom froze, and he saw Cassie look up. "Zordon's been asking for you," Billy continued, oblivious to their reactions. "His release shifted the balance of power, and to be honest I think we're going to need someone with your diplomatic experience over the next few days."

The words he had said to Cassie in the Power Chamber all those months ago rang in his mind, haunting him. *"I go where I am needed."* He had known, even this time, that he could not stay with these people who had welcomed him--but he had not truly been prepared to leave them.

Still--*"I go where I am needed."* Phantom nodded slowly, feeling the last few days evaporating even as he did so. "I will accompany you."

It could have been his imagination, but for a moment he could almost feel Cassie's dismay. He looked in her direction and found her watching him with an expression frighteningly similar to the one that had been on her face this morning: pained resignation. He realized, too late, that this was what she had been dreading--the time when something more important to him than she was would take him away… again.

*But it isn't!* he wanted to cry. She was everything that mattered in his life, and this *wasn't* more important. The Aquitian Rangers had been the closest thing to friends that he had allowed himself to have for years--but if his sense of duty had permitted it, he would gladly have told them to solve their own problems, that he might stay here with Cassie.

"We will wait for you on the seaship," Cestria said, and he barely nodded to her, unable to tear his gaze away from Cassie's.

Then Carlos was there, with words that would have astonished him under other circumstances. "It was good to have you on the team," the Black Ranger told him.

"We'll see you again soon," TJ said, giving him a warning look that said they'd *better*.

Ashley echoed their sentiments, and he nodded to them as well, watching Cassie walk slowly toward him. The Aquitians turned into colored water molecule shapes and disappeared, while the other Rangers, past and present, gathered for a moment on the other side of the clearing. But he had eyes only for the dark-haired beauty in front of him.

She just looked at him for a moment, not speaking, and a breeze whispered through the clearing. It tugged at her hair and stirred the shade, letting sunlight sparkle in her eyes for a moment. But she seemed hesitant to touch him in his armor, and he couldn't stand the way his visor made her look farther away from him than she really was.

With a thought, he let his Ranger uniform dissolve, not caring what the others might think. "Cassie," he whispered, reaching out to stroke her hair.

She stepped into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him without a word. "I'm sorry," he said quietly, closing his eyes as her sadness suddenly hit him.

She shook her head a little, her hair whisper-soft against his face. "I knew you'd leave," she murmured. "I knew… I just didn't expect it to be so soon."

That hurt. The fact that she had been so certain he would leave hurt, but he couldn't blame her. After all, he was, wasn't he? Here he was, after all his promises, leaving her again.

"I promised myself I wouldn't ask you to stay," she said quietly. "But--" She pulled away, just enough to catch his eye. "You *will* come back, won't you? Sometime?"

He felt his expression twist. What had he done to her, that she had to ask a question like that? "I will, Cassie," he promised, praying that she could see how much he meant it. "I swear that I'll come back to you. Soon."

She tried to smile. "All right," she whispered, taking a step back. "You'd better go, then. They're waiting for you."

"Cassie," he said, aware that he was saying her name at every opportunity, as though it could somehow keep her from slipping away from him. "DECA has the emergency transmission code for my starfighter. I want you to get it from her, and I want you to use it. A lot. This afternoon, tonight, tomorrow morning… please? I do not want to go without hearing your voice."

This time, he thought her smile was real. "I will," she said, leaning forward again to kiss him.

He closed his eyes, hoping it would not be long before he felt her tender touch again. *Thank you for believing me, yet again,* he thought, as she pulled away. *It's true this time; I promise you.*

"Goodbye, Saryn," she said softly. "I love you."

"And I will never stop loving you," he replied, staring at her a moment longer, drinking in her radiant beauty before it had to be filtered through his visor.

Finally, he lifted a hand to the ruby around his neck, realizing only then that the two of them were alone in the clearing. The armor surrounded him once again, and he nodded slowly to her. "Never forget, Cassie."

"I won't if you won't," she whispered, and he smiled in spite of himself.

"I couldn't," he told her, and he let the dark red of teleportation carry him away before it became impossible to leave.

***

Andros was alone on the Bridge. He knew Ashley was worried about him, and he knew it had been rude to leave when the Aquitians did. He knew she and Zhane had been left to make his excuses to the former Earth Rangers, and he knew that he had teleported out without even a word of parting to Saryn.

Yet he sat here, gazing blankly out at the stars. He clutched Kerone's locket in one hand, while his own hung heavy around his neck. She was the first one he had failed, all those years ago. 

Though she was no closer now than she had been since the day she was kidnapped, her memory haunted him more strongly than ever. He had hoped that wherever she was, the locket had been with her to serve as a memory of those who had never stopped loving her. To find that Astronema had had it all this time…

Nothing was different now, he supposed. So she didn't have her locket. She had probably been without it for years, and he had been none the wiser. Wherever and however his sister was, she was unaffected by his discovery. But how could he go on with *his* life as though nothing had changed?

***

"Hey, Carlos!"

Carlos slammed his trig book shut and stuffed it into his backpack. "Yeah," he said, not looking up as he gathered his notes, review assignment, and pencil into another pile and shoved that into his bag as well.

"Well, you're in a good mood," Karen remarked wryly, leaning against the desk beside his. "Get up on the wrong side of bed this morning?"

He couldn't help smiling. "Sorry. I just can't believe I spent three hours of a beautiful summer afternoon studying trig."

"I'll second that," TJ agreed, from behind them. "Let's go hit the beach. You want to come, Karen?"

She shook her head. "Can't. I have to work the rest of the afternoon, but thanks. I was just wondering if you two wanted to join us at my house tonight for a last minute study session."

"Sure," Carlos answered, swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

"Count me in," TJ added. "I could use all the help I can get."

"Great," Karen said cheerfully, straightening up. "Sarah and Lindsey are coming too, and if everyone wants to chip in, maybe we can get some pizza or something."

TJ chuckled. "Good, because I don't cram half as well without food."

Karen gave him a friendly shove as she squeezed past. "See you around seven, then," she called over her shoulder.

"We'll be there," Carlos replied, and TJ lifted his hand to wave.

The two Rangers followed more slowly, leaving the classroom and heading down the hall toward the main doors. "Just think," TJ said suddenly. "No more trig classes for the rest of our lives."

Carlos grinned. "That does sound good. Let's get out of here."

"No argument here," TJ said fervently, as they stepped out into the sunshine. "Thanks for driving, by the way."

"No problem," Carlos said, fishing his keys out of his pocket. He unlocked TJ's door and tossed his bag into the back seat, then went around to the driver's side. "It's less conspicuous than teleporting, at least."

The beach was packed when they arrived, which didn't really surprise Carlos. It was, after all, the second to last Friday afternoon before school started, and the youth of Angel Grove were out in full force. He was a little taken aback at the sight of so many people, though, after an isolated week on the Megaship.

"Hey, I think that's them down by the water," TJ said, shading his eyes and pointing toward the shoreline.

Carlos shook his head, not asking how TJ could tell. He had accepted long ago that his friend's vision was unusually good, and it was certainly helpful in situations like this. "Lead the way," he invited, and they made their way through the sunbathing throngs to the water's edge.

"Hey!" Zhane saw them first, a grin lighting his face as he waved. He looked almost Californian himself, with his bleached blond hair, shorts and loose fitting white tank top.

*White?* Carlos wondered. It must be close enough to silver for Zhane, but he couldn't imagine where the outfit had come from.

"Hi guys!" Ashley called, looking up from where she was talking with Kat. "How'd class go?"

TJ dropped to the ground beside her with an exaggerated groan. "Don't talk to me about class. Where's Andros?"

Ashley sighed, as Carlos claimed a spot on the blanket someone had laid out on the ground. "I don't know," she admitted. "I thought he'd been done moping by now."

Carlos gave her a surprised look. The mere fact that she would say something like that was some indication of how frustrated she was. "Want me to see if I can find him?" he offered.

But Ashley shook her head. "No, I've been meaning to ask DECA where he is. I'm going to see if I can talk some sense into him."

"That's the spirit," Kat said, her Australian accent as noticeable now as it had been when Carlos first met her. "You can never leave depressed boyfriends alone for too long."

"Not that you would know, right, Kat?" her boyfriend added with a grin.

"Of course not," she replied, giving him a secretive smile. "But we wouldn't trade them for anything in the world."

Getting to her feet, Ashley sighed. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Zhane shot a concerned look in her direction. "Do you want some help? He really does need to get his mind off that locket."

She shook her head, but she did smile at him. "That's all right; thanks. If I can't get him down here, I'll call you."

Carlos watched her go, knowing that they would be seeing the Red Ranger soon. When Ashley turned the full force of her charm on someone, she was very hard to resist--and the look on her face said that she wasn't planning to take "no" for an answer.

***

He was slumped in the pilot's chair on the Megaship's Bridge, staring down at the necklace Cetaci had given him. His own locket hung loose over his shirt, and there was a look of heartbreaking sadness on his face.

Ashley sighed. She had definitely left him alone too long.

"Andros," she said quietly, moving across the Bridge to stand behind him. He didn't stir.

She dropped her hands onto his shoulders, and felt him tense involuntarily. He relaxed a split second later, and she started to massage his shoulders and neck. "What are you thinking about?" she murmured.

He didn't answer right away, but when he did, it was a single word. "Kerone."

"Do you think she's really any better or worse off now that you have her locket?" Ashley asked gently.

He shook his head. "No… but it's still my fault."

She didn't understand how his sister's kidnapping could possibly be his fault, and she told him so. Then, before he could answer, she added, "The only person you're affecting with this guilt is you, Andros. You're not helping her, and you're only hurting yourself."

"I know," he said, after a moment, and she looked down at him in surprise.

"Then why are you sitting up here all alone?" she wanted to know, kneading her fingers against his back.

He shook his head slightly. "I… I don't know."

Then, in her head, she heard, *I can't think. You're distracting me.*

Her hands stilled for a moment. She hadn't realized he was even paying attention to the shoulder rub, let alone being distracted by it. "Well, good," she said, with a private smile as she resumed her ministrations. "That was sort of the point."

He just sat there for a moment, not protesting as her hands soothed the muscles in his upper back. *That feels really good,* he thought at last, and she smiled again, wondering if he didn't trust his voice.

"Good," she whispered, letting her arms slide forward to wrap him in a hug. "So you're going to come down to the beach with us, right?"

He sighed, and she heard him think, *Not fair…*

She turned her head to kiss his temple. "It's as fair as you sitting up here, beating yourself up over something that isn't your fault."

"All right," he muttered out loud. "I'm coming."

Before he could move, she reached her arm forward and plucked the locket out of his loose fingers. "Let me keep this safe for you," she asked quietly, hoping he would understand why she was asking. "Just for a little while."

He didn't answer immediately, but neither did he move to take it back. Finally, Andros nodded, and she slipped it into her pocket. "Thank you," she murmured, knowing how much trust it had taken for him to let her do that. She had had to, though--as long as he had it on his person, he wouldn't be able to stop think about it.

"Now go change," she said with a smile, straightening up. "I'll wait, and we'll go join the others.

"Oh, and Andros?" He glanced over his shoulder at her as he stood, and her smile widened. "No one wears jeans to the beach."

***

The sun beat down on the crowded beach, reflecting off the sand to warm the air twice over. Andros was almost glad Ashley had made him wear shorts--even he would have been uncomfortably warm in jeans this afternoon.

He was also glad that she hadn't let go of his hand since they teleported down just outside of the public parking area. He hadn't seen this many people in one place in a long time, and though he would never admit it, it was a little intimidating. But Ashley seemed to know where they were going, and he let her lead him without question.

*Hey, Andros!* He heard Zhane call to him, but it took a moment to locate the Silver Ranger. Looking irritatingly comfortable in Earth civilian clothes, his friend was lounging on a multicolored blanket spread on the sand just above the tide line.

Ashley waved, and he saw TJ and Carlos down on the packed sand closer to the water, along with two of the former Rangers that had been with Justin earlier. Just as he identified them, he heard Carlos yell, "Ashley, catch!"

Andros ducked instinctively as the projectile came flying toward them, but Ashley let go of his hand and dove after it. The plastic disk collided with her hands, and she held it aloft triumphantly. "A little more warning would have been nice!" she shouted back.

She tossed it back to him, and grabbed Andros's hand again. "Come on," she said, her eyes sparkling at him. "Want to play?"

He hesitated, glancing back toward where Zhane was stretched out on the blanket. His friend was watching him with a grin on his face. "Play what?" Andros asked at last.

"Frisbee," Ashley said, as though that should have been self-explanatory. Seeing his confusion, she added, "It's just catch, only you use a frisbee instead of a ball.

"TJ!" she called, waving her arm to get his attention. The Blue Ranger tossed the disk to her and she caught it, one-handed, out of the air. "TJ has better aim than Carlos," she confided to him quietly, and he smiled at her amusement, even though he had no idea what she was talking about.

"This is a frisbee," she told him, holding it out for inspection. She wrapped her fingers around the edge and curled it along her wrist, simultaneously letting go of his hand and taking a few steps back. "You throw it like this."

She tossed it to him with a flick of her wrist, and he caught it automatically, looking down at the disk in surprise. "Here," Ashley said, coming back to show him how to hold it.

By that time, the other Rangers had realized what was happening, and they were making their way across the sand in Andros's direction. But all he could think about was how good Ashley's hands felt on his arm as she tried to adjust his grip for him.

"No, silly," she said, laughing at him. "Just relax; I'll show you." She pried his hand away from the frisbee and stepped closer, shoulder to shoulder as she reached across to arrange his fingers.

"Hey, Andros," TJ called cheerfully, and Andros looked up, not sure whether he should be grateful for the distraction or disappointed by it.

"There you go," Ashley said, finally satisfied. "Throw it to TJ," she suggested, demonstrating the gesture with her left hand.

TJ overheard her and stopped where he was, waiting. Andros tried to imitate Ashley's action, flinging the frisbee away from him and a little upward. It wasn't as easy as it looked, and he glared at the disk as it wobbled, correcting its trajectory with telekinesis before he realized what he was doing.

"Hey, good shot, Andros!" Carlos came up behind TJ and stole the frisbee from him, tossing it to one of the other Rangers converging on the little group.

"You cheated," Ashley whispered, her voice amused, and he shrugged. He hadn't meant to, but with her standing so near and watching his every move, he had done it without thinking.

Then the others were too close for them to talk without being overheard, and Ashley took a single step away so she wasn't quite so close. "Kat, Tommy," she said, as the two unfamiliar Rangers joined them, "this is Andros." She looked over her shoulder automatically, but there was no one else near enough to make out her next words. "He's our Red Ranger."

"Glad to meet you, man," the boy said, holding out his hand and offering a smile. "I'm Tommy."

Andros took his hand, nodding to him, and saw Ashley exchange glances with the girl out of the corner of his eye. Then she stepped forward, and her smile was as warm and friendly as Ashley's as she held out her hand. "I'm Kat," she told him. "It's nice to finally meet you, Andros."

She spoke differently than the others, and he didn't quite know what to make of her words, but the other Astro Rangers trusted them, and that was enough for him. As he clasped her hand, Ashley added, "Kat and Tommy were the Red and Pink Turbo Rangers before Cassie and TJ."

That didn't surprise him in the least. Traces of their colors still lingered in their clothes, though without the Power, it had to be a matter of preference--or pride--rather than compulsion. "You chose your successors well," he told them solemnly. "My teammates have never let me down."

Something about that made Ashley turn and smile her sun-bright smile at him, and he felt his insides go weak. He wanted suddenly to kiss her, and though it didn't really seem appropriate, he wondered what would happen if he did.

But then she was looking away, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked out over the water, and the spell was broken. "There's Justin out there," she said, pointing. "You know him, of course, but that's Rocky with him."

"Rocky's teaching Justin to bodysurf," Kat explained, following Ashley's gaze. "You'll have to wait till they get tired to meet him, I think."

"Yeah--or hungry," Tommy added with a grin. Then, without warning, he slapped Kat with the frisbee and took off. "You're It!" he called over his shoulder.

"Hey--" The blonde girl chased after him immediately, almost as though she'd been expecting that.

"Frisbee freeze tag!" TJ shouted, backing away.

Andros looked to Ashley for an explanation, but she was taking her sandals off and tossing them in the general direction of the blanket. Then she grabbed his hand and tugged him with her as she raced across the sand. "Come on!" she called, laughing, and he followed her toward the water.

When she judged them far enough from the group she slowed, and turned to him. "Whatever you do," she said with a grin, "don't let Kat touch you. If you're not holding the frisbee when she tags you, you're frozen, and if you are, then you're It, which means you have to tag *us*. Understand?"

He shook his head. "No."

She giggled. "That's all right; neither does anyone else. Run!"

He looked up to see Kat coming after them, but he didn't move quickly enough. Her fingers just brushed his shoulder, and he stopped. "You're frozen, Andros," she told him breathlessly, smiling. "Don't move until someone else tags you."

He nodded, and she turned to chase Ashley. The Yellow Ranger had somehow gotten the frisbee, and when she saw Kat coming after her she turned and ran for the water. The former Pink Ranger, also barefoot, followed her without hesitation. Ashley sped up, surf splashing around her ankles and hair flying behind her as she dashed along the shore.

He was so caught up in watching her that he didn't even hear TJ coming up behind him. A hand on his shoulder startled him, and he whirled. "You're unfrozen," the Blue Ranger informed him with a grin. "But if you'd rather stare at Ashley, I can pretend I didn't tag you."

He tried not to blush, glancing involuntarily after Ashley again. Tommy was suddenly there, and she threw the frisbee to him, veering deeper into the water as Kat went after him instead. Tommy had to slow to catch the frisbee, and she caught up to him easily, throwing her arms around him in what looked more like a tackle than a tag.

*They're… a couple,* Andros realized suddenly, as Tommy just laughed and put his arms around her in return. He wondered if everyone had known that but him.

"Time!" Ashley yelled, wading out of the water with a younger boy in tow.

"Hey, Justin!" TJ shouted, waving to the former Blue Ranger. Another boy, whom Andros assumed to be Rocky, trailed them out of the ocean as well, and everyone seemed to forget the game as they converged on their friends.

Andros found himself in the middle of more introductions, but it was Ashley he was watching out of the corner of his eye. She seemed distracted by something, and finally she asked, "Has anyone heard from Cassie?"

"She said she had something important to do," Justin said with a shrug.

"Actually," TJ said, looking a little sheepish, "I called the Megaship to find out where she was a little while ago. DECA said she was at Ashley's house, and I figured she wanted to be alone."

Ashley sighed. "Maybe," she admitted. "But maybe she needs company more than anything… I'm going to go check on her."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, and Carlos nodded slowly at her. TJ looked a little relieved, and Tommy and Kat exchanged glances. Ashley put a hand on Andros's shoulder as she walked past, and she said quietly, just loud enough for him to hear, "I'll be back in time for dinner; don't forget."

He smiled after her, and she waved her fingers at him as she left.

"Wow," Rocky said, looking around at the suddenly solemn group of friends. "What did we walk into the middle of?"

***

The driveway was empty when Ashley pulled in, but she called out as she entered the house anyway. "Hello?" she said, dropping her keys on the counter in the kitchen. She peeked into the living room as she walked past, but her brother was nowhere to be seen.

*Must still be lifeguarding,* she thought, glancing at her watch. She wasn't too sure of his schedule these days.

She paused outside the guestroom, hearing music playing within. Ashley lifted her hand to knock before she recognized the band. *Matchbox 20,* she thought, grimacing a little. *That's not a good sign.*

She rapped on the door, but there was no answer. She knocked louder, wondering if Cassie simply couldn't hear her over the music. There was still no reply, and Ashley pushed the door open a crack. "Cassie?" she called.

The lack of response was starting to worry her, and she nudged the door the rest of the way open. Cassie was sitting on her futon, staring out the window--with Phantom's tunic wrapped around her. She didn't turn as the door opened, and she remained silent and motionless as Ashley entered the room.

The words blaring from the speakers suddenly penetrated her brain, "I don't know why you couldn't just stay with me; you couldn't stand to be near me--" and Ashley frowned.

Walking quickly across the room, she silenced the CD player with a touch. "Cassie," she repeated, turning back to her friend. "You know he didn't want to go…"

The Pink Ranger didn't move. Ashley sighed, going over to stand beside her. She touched her friend's shoulder lightly. "Cass?"

Cassie turned her head a little, but her eyes didn't quite meet Ashley's. Her gaze was so dispassionate, so unfocused, that Ashley's eyes narrowed. She wondered suddenly if it was more than depression. "Cassie--you *are* wearing something pink under that shirt, aren't you?"

Very slowly, still staring at a point just beyond Ashley's right shoulder, Cassie shook her head.

Ashley glared at her. No wonder her friend was so spacey. She could understand the desire to wrap herself in his color; she herself had never liked red much, but more and more recently she'd found herself drawn to it. But yellow was *her* color, and without it, she could be as disconnected and out of it as Cassie seemed now.

She went over to Cassie's closet without a word. Finding an old flannel shirt that her friend had had before she'd become a Ranger, she pulled it out and looked around for the shirt Cassie had been wearing this morning.

"Here," she said, going back to the futon. "If you have to wear something black, wear this." The flannel was a dull pink, interlaced with black. "But put your t-shirt back on first."

Cassie just looked at them. "I mean it, Cassie," Ashley said sternly. "I'm not leaving until you change."

Cassie hesitated another moment, then started to shrug out of Phantom's tunic. Ashley offered silent thanks as her friend pulled her t-shirt on over her head, and she held out the flannel. The other girl took it, but she made no move to put it on.

"Cassie?" Ashley asked, sitting down beside her. "It's not a great fashion statement, I know, but if it will make you feel better…"

Cassie lifted her head, but she didn't look at Ashley. Instead, her eyes seemed riveted on something across the room, and Ashley automatically followed her gaze.

The Pink Ranger didn't keep her room on the Megaship very neat, but she hadn't truly been living on Earth since the beginning of the summer, and there was relatively little clutter on the top of her bureau. The only thing that caught Ashley's eye was the little box, flaps open but facing away from her.

Glancing at Cassie, she got up and went over to pick it up. The brand name meant nothing to her, but underneath, her eyes widened at the words "oral contraceptives". "Are these--" She stopped, feeling foolish. Of course they were birth control pills.

"They said…" She looked up as Cassie spoke for the first time since Ashley had entered the room. "They said within seventy-two hours."

"Seventy-two hours for what?" Ashley asked gently, setting the box down.

Cassie swallowed. "You can take them retroactively."

*Morning after pills,* Ashley realized. "Oh, Cassie…"

She went back to the futon and sat beside her friend again, putting her arms around her and hugging her hard. "It's all right, Cassie," she whispered, feeling a flash of resentment for Phantom. He was the one she really needed right now. "You're not pregnant; I promise."

"You don't know that," Cassie said quietly. "What if I was? What would I do? Saryn couldn't handle something like that, and I couldn't do it alone…"

"You're *not* alone," Ashley whispered fiercely, hugging her friend tighter. "None of us would ever let you face that by yourself." *None of *us* would,* she repeated silently, thinking more dark thoughts about Phantom.

She heard her friend sniff, and she knew Cassie was trying not to cry. "It's okay," she murmured soothingly, rubbing her back. "It's going to be okay."

Cassie sniffed again, and Ashley heard her whisper, "He left. He left *again*…" She swallowed, and added softly, "I love him so much… and sometimes I don't think he even cares."

"That's not true," Ashley told her. "You *know* he cares. Leaving hurt him too, you know that; I could see it on his face." *And that's the only reason I'm not going to hurt him next time I see him for doing this to you,* she added silently.

"But he did it anyway," Cassie murmured. "He's gone again. I don't even know when I'll see him…"

Ashley had no answer for that, so she just held onto her friend, trying to remind her that there were some people who would always be there for her. She couldn't even imagine how hard it would be not to have the certainty she had with Andros. However things went, he would be at her side, and the next morning he would wake up just down the hall.

Arms around Cassie, she could feel the smaller girl shaking with silent tears. Ashley just held her, and finally she felt the Pink Ranger take a deep breath and calm a little. "What if he doesn't come back?" Cassie asked in a small voice, pulling away from Ashley's embrace. "What will I do?"

"You *will* see him again," Ashley said firmly, taking the flannel shirt from Cassie's hands and draping it around her friend's shoulders. "He'll be back. And in the meantime, you'll have us. Come on down to the beach, Cassie," she pleaded. "Everyone's there, and it'll cheer you up a little."

Cassie hesitated, and Ashley knew she didn't really want to be alone. "Come on," she repeated, standing up and clasping her friend's hands. Cassie let Ashley pull her to her feet, and Ashley put an arm around her shoulder as she led her out of the room.

***

"Are you sure you don't want something to eat?" TJ asked, dropping down beside Cassie on the lee side of the breakwater.

She looked away from the cheerful chaos that was too many Rangers trying to organize themselves onto one large beach blanket. Tanya and Adam had joined their former teammates, along with two people TJ had never met before today, and the group had grown into quite a crowd. "Yeah," she said, smiling a little at him. "I'm not really hungry; thanks."

His first thought was that she was depressed about Phantom's departure, and he thought she had every right to be. He had taken the other Ranger's unmorphed state as an indication that he wanted to try and develop his relationship with Cassie, and TJ knew that she wanted nothing more.

He had been surprised this morning when their display on the Bridge had not bothered him. Rather, he had felt something akin to gladness that the two seemed to have reached an understanding that, despite their different backgrounds, was solid enough to build on. But then this afternoon…

What could possibly have made Phantom agree to go with the Aquitians? He couldn't really be the only one with the necessary experience, and even from across the clearing, TJ had been able to see that it tore him up inside to leave. But he had, and the Blue Ranger wouldn't have blamed Cassie for being upset.

As he looked at her more closely, though, he was sure she was a little more pale than usual. Her posture, too, indicated something other than emotional distress. "Cass, are you okay?" he asked, watching her for a reaction.

She hesitated. "I'm all right," she answered at last. "I just don't feel so great; that's all."

That struck him as odd, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. "I'm sorry to hear it," he said, patting her shoulder. "You want DECA to check you out?"

That was when he realized what was strange. Ever since becoming Rangers, they had rarely gotten sick. It was as though they were immune to the common colds and viruses floating around the city, and TJ wondered if the Power protected them in ways other than simply healing them more quickly when they were injured.

Cassie shook her head. "I'm probably just tired. But thanks."

Carlos waved in their direction, and TJ glanced down at his watch. "Me and Carlos need to get moving," he said apologetically, not wanting to leave her here without any of her own teammates for company. Andros and Ashley had left more than an hour ago, and she didn't really seem to be in a mood to socialize with those who remained. "Maybe you should head back to the Megaship and get some extra sleep."

"Actually… I thought I'd sleep at Ashley's tonight," Cassie said, and he smiled.

"That's probably the best place you can go if you're not feeling well," he agreed. The Hammonds would take care of her. "Want us to drop you off?"

To his surprise, she shook her head. "Thanks, but I kind of feel like walking."

"From here? Cassie, it's four miles!"

She shrugged. "I'll cut through the park. I think I just need to clear my head a little."

TJ glanced out across the water, to where the sun hung low on the horizon. It would stay light for hours more, and she could certainly defend herself if she got into trouble. But she had already admitted to not feeling well, and he couldn't help but think that it wasn't a good idea for her to go walking alone--even if the Megaship was only a call away, it would still take time to alert the other Rangers if quantrons appeared…

Footsteps in the sand drew his attention back to the breakwater, and he looked up to find Carlos standing beside them. Zhane was right behind him, blinking sleepily and looking oddly opposite to the Black Ranger with his white shirt and blond hair. "Ready to go?" Carlos asked, and Zhane yawned.

"I am," he said, before TJ could answer. "Man, hypersleep really confuses your internal clock. I think I'm going to head back to the Megaship and get some sleep."

Glancing over at Cassie, he knew she could tell what he was thinking even before he spoke. "No," she said firmly. "I'll be fine, TJ; stop worrying."

But it didn't keep him from asking. "Hey, Zhane," he said casually, raking his fingers through the sand at his feet. "How would you feel about going for a little walk first?"

"TJ," Cassie complained. "I don't need a bodyguard."

Zhane looked from one to the other, obviously confused. "I'm not saying you do," TJ insisted. "I just want you to have some company on your way home. You said yourself you're not feeling well, and if Astronema decides to send down quantrons, I don't want you to have to fight alone." 

"Think of me as a conversation partner," Zhane said, offering a hand to help her up as he finally caught on. "No one as beautiful as yourself should be without an escort anyway."

Cassie sighed, but TJ saw her lips twitch at Zhane's words. "Oh, all right," she muttered. She took Zhane's hand and let him pull her to her feet.

"Be safe," Carlos told them, and she smiled.

"You too. Study hard," Cassie added, and TJ sighed in mock-annoyance at the reminder.

"Just how I wanted to spend *my* Friday night…"

_fin_


	26. Full Moon

_Disclaimer: Saban does not own the moon. The Power Rangers do not own the moon. But in an interesting twist of fate, Saban does own the Power Rangers._

**Full Moon  
by Starhawk**

Glancing up from his trig book, Carlos shot a covert look around the room. The five of them were gathered in the family room of Karen's home, sprawled across the furniture with varying degrees of concentration in their expressions.

TJ sat in the deep armchair he'd claimed as soon as they arrived, frowning intently at his book. He had a pencil in one hand and was apparently trying to work through one of the chapter review problems. Sarah and Lindsay were on the sofa, sharing a single book. Lindsay had one arm around her girlfriend, reading over her shoulder while Sarah quietly explained one of the formulas.

Carlos felt someone tap his foot, and he turned to look at Karen. She was sitting on the floor across from him, book open on her lap and legs stretched out in front of her. She grinned as he caught her eye, and he nudged her foot with his own in return.

Before he could ask how she was doing, though, TJ sighed loudly. "All right, I give up. Can anyone explain parallax to me?"

"What page?" Sarah asked, looking up.

TJ glanced back at his book. "Chapter 10, page 365. It's one of the application problems at the end of the chapter review."

"Oh, I saw that one," Karen said suddenly. "That was the astronomy question, wasn't it?"

TJ nodded. "They want you to find the distance to the star, but they *give* you d. I can't figure out what the unknown is."

Karen made a face. "I skipped that question. I couldn't set up a triangle that made any sense."

Carlos heard a door slam, but paid no attention as he flipped through his own book, looking for the problem in dispute. Out of the corner of his eye, though, he saw Karen crane her head toward the door. "Tess?" she called over her shoulder. "Is that you?"

"That's me," a girl's voice replied from the kitchen. "What's up?"

"We need help!" Karen exclaimed, a smile in her voice. "We have an astronomy problem that we can't figure out."

Lindsay shot a questioning look in Karen's direction. "House guest," Karen explained quietly. "She's going to AGU in the fall, but the dorms don't open until next week and she needed a place to stay in the meantime."

Carlos looked up as a petite blond-haired girl appeared in the doorway. She hardly looked college-aged, but her smile was friendly and he found himself smiling back without thinking about it.

"This is Tessa McFarlan," Karen said, waving her guest into the room. "She's an astrophysics major, so if anyone can explain this stuff, she can."

"Karen," Tessa said, laughing a little as she entered the room, "don't tell people that. You'll just scare them off."

Amused, Carlos glanced over at TJ. But his friend did not return the look--instead, TJ was frozen in his chair, staring at Karen's guest as though he was seeing a ghost.

Suddenly, a memory from two nights ago wormed its way into his consciousness, and he again heard TJ saying, *"Her name was Tessa… I think we were engaged."*

*No way,* Carlos thought, regarding the blond girl with surprise. *She couldn't be the same person. That's too much of a coincidence, even for Ashley's "meant to be"…*

But Karen was introducing them all, and TJ still had not moved. He was too far away for Carlos to discretely get his attention, and he didn't even blink when Karen pointed in his direction and said his name.

"Nice to meet you all," Tessa said, still smiling. "So what's this problem that I'm supposed to be helping with?"

Carlos stuck his book on the edge of the coffee table, and as Karen pointed at TJ again, he gave it a push. The book tumbled to the floor, falling open and hitting the hardwood floor with a thud. He saw TJ start, and everyone in the room turned to look at him.

Carlos shrugged. "Lost my place," he offered apologetically, and Karen gave him an odd look.

"Page 365," Sarah volunteered, and he saw TJ look down at his book.

"Thanks," Carlos said, picking up his textbook again and flipping through it.

The distraction must have been enough, because TJ spoke up, sounding as casual as always. "Yeah, it's this application problem about parallax. I can't figure out what we're trying to find."

"Let me see," Tessa said, going over to stand beside him and looking over his shoulder. She was silent a moment as she read the problem, and then she smiled. "Oh, that's easy. You're trying to find the distance to the star."

"Then what's d?" TJ demanded, his exasperation taking over again. "There's at least five variables in this problem!"

Tessa shook her head, perching on the arm of his chair. "No, there's not. They're just trying to confuse you, if you ask me. These two are equal, and so are these--there's only three variables, and two of them are given. It's a straight trig problem."

"So what's r?" TJ asked, and Carlos exchanged glances with Karen.

Cocking his head toward TJ and Tessa, Carlos whispered, "What are they talking about?"

Karen frowned a little and scooted across the floor to sit next to him. "What?" she whispered back.

"Them," Carlos answered quietly, glancing across the room. Tessa had taken TJ's pencil and was writing something on the piece of paper he'd been using. "What are they talking about?"

Karen giggled. "Beats me. Like I said, I didn't do that one. Gioski doesn't assign many application problems, so I usually skip them."

"Me, too," Carlos agreed. "Now I remember why…"

Karen grinned. "Hey, did you get number 11 on the review assignment? We went over it in class, but it was kind of rushed, and I couldn't figure out what I did wrong."

Carlos nodded, riffling through the papers he'd stuffed in the back of his book. "Yeah, it's right here."

"Oh, that's readable," Karen said wryly, and Carlos had to admit that his handwriting could use some improvement. He reworked the problem for her, explaining the step she had forgotten and finding, for the first time, that he was enjoying a study session.

***

"Zhane?"

He looked up, a little surprised to realize that the scenery around him had changed in the past few minutes. "Sorry," he apologized. "I'm not doing a very good job of keeping you company, am I?"

Hands in her pockets as they walked, Cassie just shrugged a little. "I'm fine. I was just wondering if something was wrong."

"Color withdrawal," he said lightly, knowing it was his own fault. The shirt had *felt* right when he put it on, but in the back of his mind the barest whisper of discomfort had grown into a noticeable buzz over the course of the afternoon. "White's not quite close enough to silver, I guess."

"Color withdrawal?" Cassie asked. "Is that what you call it?"

It was his turn to shrug. "That's what me and Andros always said. The Power doesn't come and go, you know, it's focused through your color whether you're morphed or not. No color, no Power, and your body takes a few days to readjust--so it *is* kind of like withdrawal."

She was silent for a moment. Then, suddenly, she reached up and pulled the clip out of her hair. "Would this help?" she asked, offering him the silver barrette.

He gave her a startled smile. "Yeah, it would. Thanks," he added, accepting the clip and running his fingers along its edge. Only because he was looking for it did he see the brief sparkle of silver fire as the Power found a conduit to him and came streaming back.

She smiled back. "You're welcome. Jeff has a few grey shirts; I'm sure he'd let you borrow them if they feel any better."

He tried to remember being introduced to anyone named Jeff, and gave up. "Jeff?" he asked, eyeing her quizzically.

"Ashley's brother," she said, wincing a little and putting a hand over her stomach.

He instinctively stepped closer to her. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

She held up her hand, nodding. "I'm fine." She immediately gave herself away, though, by asking, "Do you mind if we sit down for a few minutes?"

"Of course not," he assured her, frowning in alarm as she sat down quickly right where she was. He dropped into a crouch beside her. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Cassie nodded again. "Yeah," she murmured. "It's a side effect of something I'm taking. I'll be fine in a moment."

"Something you're taking?" he repeated, puzzled. "Some sort of medication, you mean? There's not much the Power won't heal."

She smiled a little. "The Power won't do anything for this, trust me. But I'm okay, really--just a little sick to my stomach."

"If you're sure…" Her tone said she didn't want to talk about it, so he lowered himself the rest of the way to the ground and leaned back on his hands, stretching his legs out in front of him. Staring out across the park, illuminated by the first rays of Earth's sunset, Zhane waited in silence.

He found his mind wandering, and he wondered idly what Andros and Ashley were doing. It had been obvious that Andros was looking forward to this evening--the entire Bridge had heard him ask Ashley out earlier in the day, and the Red Ranger hadn't seemed able to go more than two minutes without speaking to her ever since.

*Or maybe,* Zhane reflected, *he's always like that with her…* He liked Ashley, but he couldn't help but be a little jealous of the way she held Andros's attention.

"Zhane," Cassie said suddenly, interrupting his train of thought. "I want to apologize for being so snappish this morning."

He looked over at her, surprised. "Snappish?"

"You know," she said with a sigh. "This morning, on the Bridge. I was a little rude about you not paying attention."

"I *was* paying attention," Zhane insisted. "I'm not that irresponsible--I would never put the Megaship in jeopardy."

"Oh, I know," Cassie said, puzzling him further. "I could tell. I could see you watching the readouts. But Saryn couldn't, and for some reason, I couldn't block him out this morning. I really didn't mean to be so rude."

Unable to contain his curiosity, Zhane asked, "So you really feel his emotions?"

She nodded silently.

He couldn't imagine what that would be like. Telepathy was simple thought transference, and though he could sometimes tell how Andros was feeling by his mental "tone", he had never directly experienced his friend's emotions. He could only assume that such a thing would be overwhelming.

"I'm the one who should apologize," he said. "I had no idea that you were being affected by what I was saying to him."

She just looked at him for a moment. "You really hurt him, you know," she said quietly. "His team was his family, the same way Andros was yours--"

"*Is*," Zhane interrupted, bristling. "Andros *is* my family. Two years can't change something like that."

"Neither can four," Cassie said, her dark eyes locking with his. "He's still grieving for them, Zhane. You shouldn't have brought it up at all, let alone the way you did."

"I didn't know," Zhane insisted, shaking his head. "It didn't seem like such an unreasonable question, to me."

Cassie was quiet for a moment, looking away from him at last. "Maybe it wasn't. I don't really know; I'm probably too caught up in how *he* reacted to tell."

He didn't know how to respond to that without saying something that was either too flippant or too personal, so he just followed her gaze toward the horizon and let the silence grow. The trees were stretching up to engulf the sun, and it occurred to him to wonder how much more daylight they would have.

"I think in some ways you remind him of them," she said abruptly, and he looked back at her. "Maybe that's why he looks for things to dislike about you…"

"Remind him of who? His teammates?" Zhane frowned, trying to figure that out.

She nodded absently. "You were almost killed defending your home, the same way they were--but you survived. I wonder if he resents that, without even realizing it."

Zhane shrugged uncomfortably. "There's not really a lot I can do about that."

"You could try not rubbing it in," she said softly. "This morning, at breakfast? You said something to him about your powers holding, and you waking up…"

He nodded. "So?"

Cassie sighed. "I don't know exactly, but something about what you said… All of a sudden he was so angry--I had to leave just to calm down." She shook her head, looking frustrated. "I don't know why. I didn't have time to ask him about it before…"

She trailed off, and Zhane looked at her sympathetically. To be completely honest, he didn't know what she saw in the mysterious Ranger, but it was obvious Saryn meant a lot to her. "I'll remember that," he promised, "when he comes back."

Cassie smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks," she murmured, glancing back toward the setting sun. "I guess we should get moving."

He scrambled to his feet and offered her a hand. "You're feeling well enough?" he asked, concerned.

She clasped his hand, but stood mostly on her own. "Yes, thanks. And Zhane--"

He gave her an inquiring look, and she smiled again. "Thanks for walking with me."

***

The sun had long set by the time two more Rangers wandered through the park, and the last rays of twilight had faded from the sky to make way for the deep cobalt of night. But a full moon had risen as the sun went down, and it now hung high above the trees, giving enough light that the couple's handfast shadows were illuminated on the ground behind them.

Rayven had no moon, of course, being a satellite of another planet itself. But there were nights when the planet would be in the sky, shining down on the refugees with a light far brighter than Earth's moon. Glancing over at Ashley, though, silvery light shining on her hair and a contented smile on her face, Andros knew he would trade all of those nights for this single moment.

She looked in his direction, caught him staring. "What are you thinking about?" she asked lightly, swinging their clasped hands between them as they walked.

For once, he didn't even think about telling her "nothing". "You," he answered honestly.

"Well, that's fair," she said, her smile widening. "I was thinking about you."

"What about me?" Andros couldn't help asking, and she giggled.

"You didn't tell me," she teased. "Why should I tell you?"

Actually, he had meant to tell her, but she had spoken before he could find the words. "I was thinking how beautiful you are," he said, a small smile on his face. "And--how much I'd like to kiss you."

Their pace had slowed to almost nothing, and now she stopped completely, turning to look at him. "You must have read my mind," she said softly, and he took that as permission.

Stepping closer, he kissed her mouth gently, and he felt her fingers tighten on his. He squeezed her hand back, wishing he dared to kiss her the way she had him this morning. Looking into her eyes as he drew back, though, he knew he couldn't consciously commit to something like that and risk her being upset afterward.

"You don't have to ask every time you kiss me, you know," she said, looking down as they started walking again. "I don't, after all…" Ashley glanced up, suddenly searching his expression. "Does that bother you?"

He shook his head. "No, of course not." But that was different, he thought. He knew how *he* felt, and he would never turn down a chance to be close to her. With her, he couldn't be so sure.

"You say 'of course not' like I should know," Ashley said, smiling a little. "But there's no way I *can* know if you don't tell me. I mean this in the nicest possible way, Andros, but--you're not the most talkative person in the world."

"I--" He just stared at her, suddenly seeing it from her point of view. *He* felt as though the entire world could see how he felt about her, but she didn't seem to have any more certainty about his feelings than he had about hers. And yet she was willing to test their relationship, to ask him straight out how he felt, and to push him when he wasn't giving her the whole truth. 

"You're right," he said at last, realizing they had stopped again. "Ash--how do you do that?"

"Do what?" she asked, tilting her head to one side. A sly look crossed her face, and she added, "Be right all the time?"

He felt a smile tug at his lips. "Make me understand," he corrected. "And--" He looked at her intently. "How do you… How can you be so--open--if you don't know how I feel?"

She was quiet for a moment, then she shook her head. "I don't know what you mean," she admitted.

He sighed, frustrated with his own inability to convey the question. He cast back, trying to find an example she would understand. "Last weekend," he said suddenly. "When you kissed me that first time--I had never said anything to you, but somehow you knew I liked you."

She let out her breath in a small chuckle. "Oh no I didn't. I had no idea how you'd react--that was one of the scariest things I've ever done."

"Then how did you do it?" he pressed. "What if you'd been wrong? What would have happened to us--to our friendship?"

She looked away, and he realized how that sounded. "Ash, wait. I'm sorry; that's not what I meant. I'm not--" He struggled to get the words out. "I'm not talking about you. I'm… talking about me. I don't think I could have done what you did. What if *I* had kissed *you*, and I *was* wrong? Your opinion has always been too important to me for me to risk it on something like that."

"But don't you see?" she asked, looking up and meeting his eyes with a gaze as serious as his own. "It's *because* you're so important to me that I *had* to do it. The chance that you might feel something for me was worth the risk--and if you didn't, I was pretty sure that we had a friendship that could keep going anyway."

"You were pretty sure?" He shook his head. "Ash, I don't know what I'd do without you. I couldn't do anything that might drive you away."

"Andros…" She looked down at their clasped hands, putting her free hand over them. "I *love* you," she said, lifting her eyes to meet his again. "If I hadn't kissed you then, I might never have found out that you felt the same way. Would you give up what we have now just because you were too scared to take a chance?"

That stung, and he suspected she had meant it to. "No," he said. "You know I wouldn't."

"How?" she whispered. "How do I know?"

She was right again, he thought, swallowing. If he never told her, how *was* she supposed to know? If he couldn't put his heart on the line, even as she had, why should she think he cared anymore about her now than he ever had?

Something he had said to Saryn recently came back to him with startling clarity. *"If you don't trust her, what's the point?"* She said she loved him, and he had to believe that that meant more than just a passing interest.

"I love you, Ashley," he said quietly, taking her hands and pulling her closer. "I'll love you for as long as you let me, and--I don't think I'll ever be able to stop." He kissed her before she could answer, feeling his heart pounding even as he leaned forward.

She returned the kiss gently, and he realized she meant to keep her earlier promise not to rush him. But they were all alone, standing beneath the moonlit sky of her home planet, and this time he was the one to kiss her again, pressing his lips against hers more insistently and feeling her respond.

She let go of his hands to put hers on his shoulders, and he let his hands drop to her waist as she sidled closer. He was so lost in the sensation of kissing her that he didn't at first realize what she was doing--then her arms slid around his neck, and there was no more space between them.

With her lips on his and her whole body pressed against his, it was an embrace far more intimate than a simple hug. He could feel his skin tingling and he kissed her harder, letting his own arms encircle her to hold her the way he had wanted to for so long. Was this what he had been missing, Andros wondered, wanting to melt against her and let her warm fingers wander all over his skin.

She lifted her hand to stroke his hair, and her crop top slid up just far enough that his own hands were resting against her bare back. It would be so easy to--

He let go, flinching away from her as he realized what he was thinking. "Andros?" she murmured, eyes opening but not letting him pull away.

"*That's* what I'm afraid of," he whispered breathlessly, staring at her face only inches from his own. The words were suddenly there, and he said them before he could change his mind. "Not you, not us--it's me. I'm scared of loving you *too* much, and not being in control anymore."

She smiled at him, arms still around him and fingers running through his hair. He tried to ignore the feelings racing through him, tried to resist the urge to kiss her again. "Love isn't about control, Andros," she told him quietly. "It's about trust--trust that the person you love won't hurt you, not on purpose. No matter what."

He let his hands settle on her waist again, holding her close, and as he closed his eyes he heard her add, "I'll never hurt you, Andros. I promise."

"It's not you I don't trust," he whispered, acutely aware of every place her body pressed against his. "It's me."

"I trust you," she said softly, her breath warm on his face.

Then he felt her lips on his again, and he found himself kissing her with complete disregard for what he had just been trying to say. She didn't seem to care either, and they clung to each other for several minutes, forgetting the rest of the world.

It was Ashley who pulled away first, murmuring breathlessly, "Is this--too fast?"

He shook his head, not trusting his voice.

*Andros?* he heard in his mind. *Please talk to me…*

*It's not too fast,* he assured her silently, staring into her eyes. *It's just--if I open my mouth, I might start kissing you again.*

She tilted her head to one side, brushing her fingers against his cheek. *I love you, you know,* she said, an affectionate smile on her face.

*I do know,* he said, gazing at her in wonder. Maybe it was the night, or the way she was looking at him, or just her confidence finally rubbing off on him--but something was different. *I love you too…*

*Andros?*

He stiffened, knowing instantly that that hadn't come from Ashley. Someone was calling to him--afraid and vulnerable, but with a voice he could not for the life of him place. He saw Ashley's eyes cloud over, but as he tried to explain, her gaze flicked past his shoulder in surprise.

"Andros, *down*!" she said sharply, pushing him to the ground with a strength it was easy to forget she possessed.

She fell on top of him, her hair sliding across his face and for a moment he had the insane desire to pull her close--but the purple lightning that streaked through the place where they had just stood quickly distracted him.

"Astronema?" he gasped, recognizing her signature fire.

"Come on!" She rolled onto her side and into crouch, eyes darting across the clearing.

He scrambled after her, but the park was silent once again. The arc of violet electricity did not repeat itself, and he held absolutely still, trying to figure out where it had come from. Ashley pointed wordlessly, and he nodded, trusting her instincts.

He got carefully to his feet, holding a hand out to her as he did so. She took it, but she stood on her own, as quietly and far more gracefully than he had. Handfast, they crept across the clearing in the direction Ashley had pointed. Nothing seemed to move--but in the dimness, there were dozens of shadows deep enough to conceal a single person.

"Andros! Ashley!"

Andros's adrenaline level spiked, and he felt Ashley jump at Zhane's shout. Turning, he glared at the Silver Ranger. "Thanks for scaring us half to death!"

"Sorry," Zhane apologized, jogging over toward them. He was wearing some of his old clothes from Rayven, and Andros wondered briefly if he was having color problems. "But DECA detected Astronema's teleportation signature in the park just a minute ago."

"We noticed," Ashley said wryly. "Why do you think we were sneaking around?"

Zhane shrugged, an amused look in his eyes. "Well…"

*Don't finish that sentence,* Andros thought, glaring at his friend again. "She shot at us," he told his friend, and Zhane's knowing look turned to one of concern.

"Are you all right?" the Silver Ranger asked quickly, looking them over as though he might find visible injuries.

Andros glanced at Ashley, and she nodded. "We're fine," he confirmed, looking over his shoulder. "But was the teleportation signal that DECA picked up Astronema coming here, or going back to the Dark Fortress?"

Zhane shook his head. "She couldn't tell. But I'd guess it was her leaving--wouldn't she have attacked again, if it wasn't?"

"Shouldn't she have attacked again, period?" Ashley asked, peering around nervously. "I don't understand what she thinks she accomplished."

"Well, for one thing, she's got the two of you jumping at shadows," Zhane observed. "Look, why don't I check around." He held up a scanner, winking at them. "I came prepared. If she's here, I'll find her. You two just go back to--whatever it was you were doing."

"We'll come with you," Andros protested, deliberately ignoring the smug tone in Zhane's voice.

"No," his friend said firmly. "Don't give her the satisfaction. She's probably not even here anymore--if you let her disrupt your date, you're letting her win."

Andros hesitated, but Ashley squeezed his hand. "He's right," she said quietly. "Come on--Astronema's just trying to shake us up. Don't let her do it."

He nodded, finally, and Zhane smiled. "Great. I'll look around the park, and if I find anything, I'll let you know. Otherwise, I'll just head back to the Megaship. And I won't wait up," he teased.

***

It was a voice she was sure she had heard before. But *where*… She found herself turning in tight circles, staff held ready, as she tried to identify the source.

*I love you…*

She clapped her hands over her ears, seeing sun instead of moonlight, and a boy in red racing through the park toward her. The games she and her brother had played came flooding back, and she heard his childish voice ringing in her ears.

Her head came up, but all she saw were the Rangers she had been about to ambush. They couldn't possibly be the source of the voices… could they? *Andros?* she wondered, just barely able to make out the streaked hair of the Ranger nearest her. 

She saw him start, and she gripped her staff more tightly, certain something had given her away. Her brother was dead, she reminded herself firmly, killed by Power Rangers before she was old enough to properly remember. She had to attack these Rangers before they turned on her.

The staff responded to her instinct, and beam of purple static shot across the clearing. She saw the Rangers dive out of its way--red and yellow tumbling to the ground before her eyes, but the colors were swirling in her memory too.

She drew further into the shadow that hid her, trying to clear her mind. *He's gone, he's gone, he's gone,* she chanted silently, pushing the loneliness in her soul away. *No more brother, no more parents…*

*No more locket,* she thought, her eyes narrowing. Someone would pay for that. She had a new family now, and a new protector--but she had always treasured the reminder of her old family. She would not let it go so easily.

A beeping alerted her, and she stiffened as she recognized the noise of a tracking device. One of the Rangers, she assumed, peering around the bole of the tree that concealed her.

She frowned, though, as moonlight glinted silver on the approaching figure. She shook her head again, trying to disperse the memories. Those clothes had looked momentarily familiar--she must be more disoriented than she thought. She needed to get back to the Dark Fortress.

She whipped her staff around in front of her, planting it on the ground in front of her and lifting her chin. Purple fire danced around her fingertips, and she pictured the Dark Fortress in her mind just as she heard a voice call, "Is someone there?"

The image dissolved at that not-quite-unfamiliar voice. The childhood flashback took hold of her again, and to her horror she felt the power respond. Her staff vanished, and as she spun she could feel short blond hair swirl around her face.

The wielder of the tracking device stepped into her line of sight, the wary expression on his face turning to one of startlement as he caught a glimpse of her. "Oh--hi," he offered awkwardly, lowering the device without looking at it and trying to shove it into his pocket without her noticing.

She felt her lips quirk at his attempt at subtlety. He couldn't be a Ranger--she knew all of their faces, and his wasn't one of them. And besides, he was just standing there, staring at her. The Rangers were quicker on their feet than that.

"I was just… uh, looking for someone," he said, glancing around as though the person might stroll past at any moment. "Are you out here alone?"

Was he--concerned? She looked at him in puzzlement. "Of course," she said. If she wanted something done right, it was safer to do it herself. Alone.

"On your way somewhere?" he suggested. "Maybe I should walk you there. There can be some dangerous people around this time of night." He was looking over his shoulder all the while, and she could hear the muffled beeping of the device he had tried to hide.

Glaring in its general direction, a spark leaped from her fingers to the source of the beeping, silencing it. "No," she said carelessly, knowing he would find a completely inoperable mechanism when he next went to check it. "I'm just out for a walk."

He visibly relaxed when the device stopped sounding its alarm, and he turned his full attention to her. "What a coincidence," he said, giving her a charming smile. "So am I. Would you like some company?"

She raised her eyebrow. "You said you were looking for someone."

"I was," he agreed, stepping forward. She tensed, but he just smiled again and offered her his arm. "And now I've found her. Come enjoy the moonlight with me?"

*You have no idea who you're talking to,* she thought, staring at him. She should be offended, she knew, but all she felt was amusement. And she could use someone to entertain her, lately--Dark Spectre was displeased with her for failing to occupy the Rangers, and Ecliptor was not himself.

So, rather gingerly, she took his arm. "Why not?" she asked, smiling back and thinking dark thoughts about the Monarch of evil. If he thought he could do a better job, let him just try. "I don't have anything better to do."

***

"It wasn't you," he insisted, and she craned her head to look at him from where she sat on the picnic table bench. Behind her, Andros was perched on the table itself, running his fingers idly through her hair. "I'd know your voice anywhere, Ashley. This was someone else."

She frowned. "If not me, or Zhane, then who?"

He shook his head. "I wish I knew. Kerone and Zhane were the only two I could ever hear in my head, before you."

She didn't reply for a moment, wanting to ask him something but at the same time not wanting to embarrass him. "Andros?" she asked finally. "Right after you told Zhane that Astronema had shot at us, you said something to him, telepathically."

"You heard that, huh?" he asked wryly, not looking as chagrinned as she had expected. "Zhane isn't--the most diplomatic person I know."

"Oh, I knew he was just teasing," she said, smiling. "But… did he answer you?"

Andros's expression went pensive, and his hand on her hair stilled. "I don't think so, no. Why?"

"Well, I can't hear what he *says*, but I sometimes I sort of--I don't know… notice his presence." Ashley squirmed a little, feeling strange talking so seriously about something she hadn't even believed in until a few days ago. "I didn't feel that when you spoke to him a few minutes ago, and I was just wondering if I missed it."

He shook his head. "You didn't miss it," he said, turning the thoughtful look on her. "And you noticed my 'presence' this morning…"

She gave him a curious look. "What do you mean?"

"When you went to get Cassie for breakfast, you said something about me 'going away'." He waited until she nodded. "I wasn't saying anything, but you could still tell when I was focusing on you--and when I stopped."

"*That's* what it is?" she asked, surprised. "It's when you're thinking about me?"

He shrugged, stroking her hair again. "Sort of, yeah."

She waited, but he didn't elaborate. "Can you--do you think you could show me?" 

He gave his head a shake. "Sure." His hand left her hair, and he was quiet for a moment. "Can you feel that?"

She frowned. "What?"

*I was focusing on you,* he said silently. *You can tell now because I'm actually thinking at you, but I'm surprised you didn't notice before.*

She shifted a little where she sat, using the conversation as cover for the movement. Her bare arm just brushed against his leg, and she tried not to shiver. *Can you try going away again? It takes me a minute to figure out which part of my mind is actually you, but I think I've got it now.*

*Sure.* The spark she had identified as him wavered, but didn't fade.

She waited, then said, *I guess I was wrong--it didn't change. Try once more?*

"No," Andros whispered, and she felt his fingers touch her hair again. "That's me. Just a second."

This time, the light feeling faded, and she smiled. "That's what I felt this morning." She turned to look up at him again, puzzled. "How come it took so long?"

He was just staring at her, fingers tangled in her hair. "I couldn't stop thinking about you," he confessed quietly. "You're sort of… addictive."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she teased, a little surprised by his admission. Turning a little more, she propped her elbow on his leg and put her chin in her hand to watch him.

*It's bad, if I ever want to concentrate on anything while you're around,* he answered, smiling a little.

"You don't have to concentrate on anything right now," she reminded him softly, reaching for his free hand. He took her hand, twining his fingers through hers, and, as she had hoped, he leaned slowly forward to kiss her.

She lifted her face toward his, and reveled in the feeling of his lips covering hers. She felt a flash of disappointment as he pulled away, but he just slid forward off the table to join her on the bench, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and kissing her again.

Leaning into him, she felt his fingers twitch as their clasped hands rested on her thigh. Eyes closed as she returned his kisses less and less softly, she draped her free arm over his shoulder and inched closer. He had felt so good, earlier, pressed close against her and for once not resisting…

She wasn't kissing his mouth anymore, she realized distantly, hearing him gasp. Her lips were trailing across his neck, and his fingers were squeezing her hand so hard it almost hurt.

"Ashley," he murmured, his breathing ragged, and she knew she'd gone too far.

She drew away with an effort, opening her mouth to say she was sorry--she seemed to be doing that a lot lately--but he kissed her mouth before she could speak. Then he freed the arm he had had around her and put a finger over her lips as he pulled back. "I think we should go back to the Megaship," he whispered at last, staring into her eyes.

"Andros, wait," she said, catching his hand and pulling it away from her face. He had finally kissed her the way she had been dreaming about for weeks now, and she hadn't been content--she'd had to push for even more. She hadn't meant to, but it had happened, and she was desperately afraid that she had set their relationship back.

"I didn't--I really hope I haven't ruined tonight," she said nervously, searching his expression. "I've had such a good time… I guess I just got carried away."

"You haven't ruined anything," he promised, not looking away from her. "It's just… that felt a little too good--you know? We sort of agreed that, well… we wouldn't sleep together yet, and if you hadn't stopped--" He looked at her helplessly. "That would have been really hard to remember," he said in a rush.

"I'm trying to remember, too," she whispered, fighting the urge to wrap her arms around him again. If she counted that first kiss as the beginning of their relationship, they hadn't even officially been together for a week. That *was* too soon for what they were talking about, but she suspected that if he were just a little less responsible, it wouldn't take much for her to forget it.

He stood, pulling her to her feet as well. "Then I guess we really should head back," he said, and she nodded reluctantly.

Andros made no move to reach for his communicator. "Ashley?" he asked after a moment.

She cocked her head at him. "Yes?"

He smiled a little. "Thanks--for making me trust."

_fin_


	27. Dreaming

_Disclaimer: I suppose I have to take responsibility for the tiniest bit of characterization. ::smirk:: But most of the characters are Saban's._

**Dreaming  
by Starhawk**

"Am I just supposed to *trust* you?" The Zimeran positively sneered at him, and it took some effort to keep his temper under control. "You don't even have the proper access codes."

"I have been out of communication for some time," Phantom replied through clenched teeth. "I was not informed of the change in procedure."

"That's a convenient excuse," the alien opined, and even on the two-dimensional Aquitian viewscreen his expression was clearly mocking.

"I wish to speak to Tobin," Phantom informed him, trying to stay calm.

"I'm sure you do," the alien agreed condescendingly. "So does a good percentage of this galaxy. Who are you to request an audience with him?"

"I am the Phantom Ranger," he growled at the screen. "I *founded* the organization you work for."

The Zimeran was not impressed. "Of course you are. You can't even give me the access codes!"

Under normal circumstances, he would have tried to reason with the man. After all, he *didn't* have the correct codes--he had been running under radio silence since leaving Hercuron, and his last appearance at a Defense meeting had been almost a month ago. The other was right to be suspicious. But he was in no mood to take this, and he couldn't make himself care anymore.

He reached out and snapped the screen off without another word. The sudden silence echoed in the empty command center--the hour was late, and the Aquitians had left to sleep some time ago. He had been too busy to respond to the priority transmissions Tobin had left for him until now, but it seemed as though the call would have to wait a while longer.

It was just as well. He couldn't focus on it anyway. No matter how much he knew that the Frontier Defense needed to be kept abreast of current events, and no matter how aware he was of the organization's importance, he hadn't been able to concentrate on anything since this morning.

*"I knew you'd leave…"*

He turned away from the console abruptly, heading for the door. Behind him, he heard the muted static that announced Zordon's return to the chamber. "Phantom Ranger--"

He didn't even pause. "Let me be, Zordon."

The door slid open for him, and startled silence followed him out into the hallway, cut off only when the door closed once more. He leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and remembering her face when he'd agreed to return to Aquitar.

*"I just didn't think it would be so soon."*

He slid to the floor, feeling his uniform shift around him. He hated this armor sometimes… It had taken him away from her before, and now, despite his best intentions, it had happened again.

*Cassie,* he cried silently. *How is it that we are on different worlds, yet again? What is it that keeps us apart, no matter how hard I try?*

*"I promised myself I wouldn't ask you to stay…"*

He hadn't tried hard enough, obviously. He had left, again, and it had hurt her more this time than all of the other times combined--because this time, he had promised her he wouldn't.

He remembered vividly that first night, falling asleep with her in his arms. *"See you in the morning?"* she'd asked, and he had smiled, amazed and grateful for the trust in her voice after all he'd put her through. *"Always,"* he'd answered.

It was already morning on Earth. The sun would rise over Angel Grove in a few hours, and she would wake up alone.

*"You will come back, won't you?"*

She didn't believe he'd return. He had seen it in her eyes, no matter how she tried to smile for him. He had finally asked for more trust than she could give, and this time she wouldn't believe him until she saw him standing before her again.

Was this worth it? He stared at the walls around him, seeing only the lack of metal plating that composed the ship she spent so much time on. Would any of this war matter if he lost her?

*"They're waiting for you."*

In his mind's eye, he saw himself step back, reaching for the Power to teleport away. He wished desperately that this time it would end differently, but the memory played itself out as it had every other time, relentless and unchanging. How could he have done it?

*"Goodbye, Saryn…"*

"No," he whispered, clenching his right hand into a fist. "Not goodbye." It wasn't too late to make the right choice--it couldn't be.

The staccato beep of an incoming emergency transmission interrupted his thoughts, and his eyes widened. He silenced the signal with a touch and sprang to his feet, one word on his mind. *Cassie…*

He hurried back into the control room, noting distractedly that Zordon was gone again. Entering the linkup command into the comm equipment, he input his starfighter's access code and waited impatiently for the computers to connect.

Linnse's face appeared on the screen, and he couldn't suppress a wave of disappointment. He didn't want to deal with the Defense anymore; he only wanted to go and apologize to the one person he couldn't live without. He wanted to beg her forgiveness, and pray that he hadn't hurt her more than she loved him.

"Phantom!" A smile brightened Linnse's face, and he was grateful she could not see his expression. "I was checking on Nal, and the comm logs said you had called. Why didn't you ask for me or Tobin?"

"I did," he answered tonelessly. "I did not have the proper access codes." *"I knew you'd leave."*

She sighed. "That's right; I'd forgotten that we didn't get you the new set of passwords yet." Linnse shook her head. "Still, you're not exactly unrecognizable--Nal should have put you through anyway."

"The person I spoke with was not of great help," he said, some of his annoyance resurfacing even as the memory of this morning continued to replay in his mind. *"I just didn't think it would be so soon…"*

She grimaced. "That's Nal, all right. He's really an extraordinary pilot, but under normal circumstances we would never have assigned him to a liaison position. I'm sorry you had to deal with him."

He tried his best to concentrate on what she was saying. "What has happened?" *"I promised myself I wouldn't ask you to stay."*

"You mean other than the liberation of one of the most important forces for good in the universe?" she asked wryly, looking over her shoulder. "Nothing of that caliber--but in terms of Defense management, we're struggling right now. One of our messengers bypassed the biofilters a few days ago and he must have been carrying something nasty, because we have an epidemic on our hands.

"It's not life-threatening, but the symptoms vary from mild dizziness to severe fatigue and nausea, depending on the species. Tobin's been sick since yesterday, and more than half of headquarters has been infected. " She shrugged, but her eyes were troubled. "Hazards of recycled air."

"Indeed." *"You will come back, won't you?"*

Linnse's eyes narrowed, and she gave the impression of peering more closely at him despite the distance that separated them. "You're distracted," she said matter-of-factly. "What's going on, Phantom?"

"You mean other than the liberation of one of the most important forces for good in the universe?" He wished he could put some amusement into his tone, to let her know that everything was all right--but it wasn't, and he couldn't.

"Yes," she agreed, smiling at his echo of her comment. "Are you all right?"

There were at least ten other things they needed to be discussing, but instead she asked him that, waiting for his reply with genuine concern on her face. He heard again Cassie's voice in his mind. *"They're waiting for you."*

The silence stretched out between them, and he was acutely aware of the emptiness of the room behind him. Slowly, he shook his head. "No. I… I am not. There is something I need to do, Linnse."

She looked at him, obviously puzzled but sensing his seriousness. "There's always something you need to do--you told me so yourself, once. What's different this time?"

Knowing she could not see the gesture, he closed his eyes, letting thoughts of Cassie overwhelm his mind. *"Goodbye, Saryn…"*

"This will haunt me forever if I do not do it," he said quietly. "Please understand, Linnse--I will be back as soon as I can."

"Phantom…" She trailed off, and he opened his eyes again. He hoped she would not ask how soon "soon" would be, for he had no answer. If Cassie's failure to contact him was an indication that she no longer wished to speak to him, he might be back on Aquitar in hours. If it were not, but the only way to keep her was to stay with the Astro team--he might not be coming back at all.

Linnse did not bring up the time he had been gone, or the myriad tasks that the Defense needed the third member of their governing team for, especially now. She just nodded, and asked, "Is there anything I can do?"

*You just did it,* he thought gratefully. Her support meant so much to him, as it had since the night three and a half years ago when she had stubbornly refused to let him give up his own life. "I thank you; no. I must do this alone."

She nodded again. "May it go well, then, from both Tobin and I."

"Be well, Linnse," he answered, reaching out to sever the comm link. He wondered if it was for the last time. All he knew was that he couldn't live without Cassie, and she couldn't love without knowing when she would see him again.

He gave a thought to his starfighter, sitting in drydock on one of Aquitar's orbital stations, but he wasn't willing to wait through the transit time to Earth. Instead, he entered a sequence of commands that would teleport him, from this galaxy to hers, in a matter of seconds.

As the room faded, engulfed by maroon light, Phantom was glad Zordon was absent. He did not want to know what the interdimensional being would think of using the boosted teleportation system for this little jaunt.

Then the darkness of Earth's night side came into view around him, lit only by the setting silvery disk of the planet's single natural satellite. The building in front of him was unfamiliar, but the Aquitian-based transport had homed in on her Power signature, and his visor could detect the conduit for the Pink Astro powers inside.

He walked forward without a second thought, the datafeed on his visor adjusting to momentarily read different wavelengths as visible light passed through his invisible form. He felt his own teleportation phase him through the walls, and there was Cassie, curled up in the faint starlight that streamed through her open window.

He knelt by her sleeping form, feeling her mere presence soothe the restlessness that had seeped into his soul since this morning. He hadn't even noticed its return--the need to keep moving was so much a part of him that it was conspicuous only by its absence.

She moaned a little, turning in her sleep, and he caught his breath as he realized she was wearing his tunic. His armor dissolved as he heard her murmur his name, and he reached out to touch her face. "It's all right, Cassie," he whispered. "I'm here."

She twisted, cheek pressing against his hand, and suddenly she started awake. "Saryn?" she mumbled, blinking at him in obvious confusion. "What--what are you doing here?"

She put her elbows behind her, struggling to sit up, and he put an arm around her shoulders to help her. "I was wrong," he said simply, sitting beside her gingerly and leaving his arm around her. "I need you, Cassie; I shouldn't have left the way I did."

"You should never leave the way you do," she mumbled, snuggling against him and resting her head on his shoulder. "But you always do. And then I dream about you coming back, and I hate waking up--I *hate* it, Saryn…"

He heard her sniffle, and he felt his heart sink as he realized she was crying again, for the third time in a single day--and every time had been his fault. "I'm sorry," he murmured, wrapping his other arm around her and hugging her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Cassie."

"No you're not," she insisted, her fingers curling into a fist against his chest. "Cause you're still not here, and I still have to wake up, and we're never together for long enough, ever!"

*She's not awake enough to know she isn't dreaming,* he thought, dismayed. Then he gasped as she hit him with her fist, not hard, but with enough force to send pain shooting through his injured chest. He couldn't keep from crying out when she repeated the action, feeling the ache in his heart even more than his bruised muscles.

"Please, Cassie," he whispered, catching her fist and pulling her closer until there was no room for her to continue. "We will be together for as long as you want, I promise you."

"I hate this," she mumbled, her voice choked even as she relaxed against him. "I hate it. I hate you…"

The words stabbed at his heart, tearing to pieces what composure he had left, and he felt a tear slide down his face. He desperately wished there was something he could say that would ease her pain, but he had said it all before, and words weren't what she needed. So he just held her, cradling her in his arms as he felt her slip back into sleep, hoping against hope that she would never make him let go.

***

*She knew there was something wrong even before the alarm started to shriek at her, preceding the violent flash of heat and light by only a split-second. It threw her backwards like a physical blow, and she felt her head slam against the wall even as the horrifying noise of tearing metal reached her ears.

The world started to fade, but she heard the roar of escaping atmosphere, felt the clang of a bulkhead impacting only inches away as the darkness overtook her. Her last thought was that Andros would never know how much she cared for him…*

Ashley tossed in her sleep, flinging her arm out and feeling it hit something hard. She gasped, coming awake with a start and staring across the unlit room. For a moment, she saw the lower decks of the Megaship instead, and the explosion replayed again in her mind, its vividness all the more startling after two days of not being able to remember much at all of that morning.

An urgent knock on her door startled her again, and she turned wide eyes toward the sound. "Come in?" she whispered hesitantly, trying to sit up and stop shaking at the same time.

DECA let the door slide open, and Andros paused only long enough to turn the lights up a little before striding across the room. His uniform was rumpled--he must have been sleeping in it again--but his expression was wide awake and his eyes were worried as he knelt down beside her.

"Are you all right?" he whispered, staring up at her.

With a small cry of relief, she slid off her bunk and wrapped her arms around him. "How did you know?" she asked softly, as they clung to each other on the cold floor of her room.

"I heard you call me," he said, rubbing his hand across her back and soothing her shivers. "Your voice in my head, saying my name--you didn't do it on purpose?"

She shook her head, not caring how it had happened, only grateful that he was here now. "I had a nightmare," she murmured, hugging him more tightly. "The hull breach…"

"You remember?" he whispered, and she squeezed her eyes shut.

"I caused it, didn't I, Andros," she said quietly, trying to keep her voice steady. Her trembling had stopped, but she couldn't make the memories fade back into the realm of dreams. She knew, in her heart, that what she had seen while she was sleeping was real.

"It wasn't your fault," he told her, his arms tightening around her until she thought he might crush her. "It's all right, Ash; it's over now."

"I could have gotten us all killed," she insisted miserably. "How could I have done something so stupid…"

"No," he said, surprising her with his vehemence. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine, for not realizing what effect the damping field would have on the two of you."

She didn't answer right away, feeling the barest hint of a smile creep onto her face. "That's the silliest thing I've ever heard," she murmured at last.

"Maybe," he admitted. "But it's no worse than you blaming *your*self for something you had no control over either."

She sighed, comforted by his assurances and his embrace. "Thanks, Andros," she whispered, wanting him to know how much she appreciated his presence.

He finally let her go, hands still on her shoulders as he pulled back to stare into her eyes. She managed to smile, and the corner of his mouth quirked in response. He kissed her, so softly she could barely feel it, and asked quietly, "Will you be able to get back to sleep?"

She shook her head a little, refusing to give in to the images that she knew waited for her just beyond her conscious mind. "There's no way I'm going back to sleep after that. I'm just going to read or something, until breakfast."

"Ash, it's three in the morning," he objected. "You haven't gotten more than a few hours of sleep yet--you'll be exhausted all day."

"I don't care," she said stubbornly. "You don't know how horrible that dream was. It's not worth it."

He hesitated, fingers caressing her bare shoulders. "Would it--help if I stayed with you?"

She stared at him uncertainly. Coming from Andros, she doubted it could be anything more than a perfectly innocent question, but he had surprised her before. She wasn't sure she could ask aloud, but it wasn't quite as hard to think it. *You mean… just to sleep, right?*

He blinked, and gave her a small smile. *Yes. Just to sleep.*

"It might," she murmured, not sure herself but eager to have him here with her whether it kept the nightmare at bay or not. "I'll try."

"Good," he whispered, standing and helping her to her feet. She crawled back onto her bunk, curling up as close to the wall as she could. She felt Andros pull her blanket up over her shoulders, and heard him leave briefly to turn the lights down again. 

Then the bunk creaked as he lay down beside her, and she bit her lip to keep from asking what he was thinking. She was supposed to be trying to sleep. Then she felt his hand settle gently against her back, and she smiled into the darkness.

Closing her eyes, she let the steady sound of Andros's breathing lull her into a dreamless sleep.

***

The sound of her alarm, strange after weeks of waking up to DECA's synthesized voice, jolted her out of a restless doze. She reached out, instinctively hitting the "snooze" button, and froze as she felt movement from somewhere very nearby.

Cassie twisted to look over her shoulder, and gasped as she saw Saryn there beside her, propped up on one elbow and watching her intently. For a moment, she was convinced she was still dreaming, and that her alarm would go off again any second.

"I did not mean to startle you," he murmured apologetically. "I wasn't sure how much you would remember…"

"Saryn?" she whispered incredulously, extending a hand tentatively.

He took it without hesitation, and she tried to remember if he felt so solid in her dreams. *Dreams,* she thought, feeling a sinking sensation take hold of her even as he squeezed her fingers. "I'm here," he answered, and she tried not to remember the last time he had said that to her.

"Last night," she said hesitantly, trying to separate what she knew *couldn't* be real from what might be. "You coming back… that wasn't a dream?"

He shook his head slowly, and she saw a flicker of pain on his face. "Saryn, why?" she demanded, even though her heart was screaming at her not to question it. "They need you…"

"Because I love you," he said simply. "And I need you more than they need me."

She had to be dreaming. She had never been more important to him than his duty, and she knew that. "No," she said, pulling her hand away from him reluctantly. "This isn't real--Saryn would never say something like that."

"Cassie…" The anguish in his expression made her pause, and she flinched at the dismay she could feel radiating from him. She shouldn't be able to feel that if he were only a dream--should she?

Even if it were possible, she couldn't stand to see him hurt so much. "I'm sorry," she murmured, pushing herself the rest of the way up and gingerly reaching out to him. He didn't move, but neither did he vanish the moment she touched his face.

If he *was* real… She flung her arms around him, repeating, "I'm sorry, Saryn; I didn't mean it. Please, forgive me?"

The pain did not abate. "You have nothing to apologize for," he whispered in her ear, arms going around her even as he spoke. "Please, stop--I do not deserve your concern, Cassie."

She had never hurt him before, not in her dreams, even when she had screamed at him, even cursed him for being who he was. He had never lost the impassivity that seemed to have deserted him now. "I'm sorry," she murmured again, ignoring his rebuke.

"Cassie, *stop*," he insisted. "*I* am sorry--more sorry than you can possibly know for what I have done."

"You've only done what you had to," she said, hating the words all the more because they were true. He had a job to do, one that conflicted with any relationship they could have. She had to accept second place, no matter how much she wanted it to be otherwise.

"No," he countered, "I did what I thought I had to do. There is only one thing in the universe that I can not live without, and that is you. Without you, the rest of it means nothing, and I should have realized that long before now…

"Please, Cassie," he begged again, arms tightening around her before she could say anything. "I won't ask for your forgiveness, if you can't give it, but I want you to know there's nothing I desire more."

"I've always forgiven you," she whispered, leaning her head on his shoulder. "You must know that. Every time, I make excuses, and I forgive you, and then you're gone again…"

She felt him swallow hard, and she felt terrible for the tiny twinge of satisfaction that his distress gave her. How could she do this to him? She could feel his pain as though it was her own, and she would do almost anything to make it go away--but a small voice in the back of her mind said that he was only feeling what she had felt for the last three months…

"You are right to hate me," he said at last. She started, but he wouldn't let her go. "I know what this must sound like, Cassie… but I wish to have another chance. I wish for you to trust me the way you did the first time, and I wish for you to believe that I will never leave you again."

She didn't know what to say, and he continued before she could find words. "I know you can not. But if I were to have anything in the universe, that is what it would be. It may never be possible again, but if you will let me, I wish to stay with you until my word starts to mean something to you again."

"And then you'll leave?" she murmured. He flinched, and she closed her eyes in shock. How could she have *said* that?

"I will not," he said quietly, and this time when she tried to pull away, he let her.

"Saryn, don't make promises you can't keep," she told him. "You have a life, too, and you can't give it up just to make me happy. I've never asked that of you, and I won't now."

"You don't have to--" he started, and she shook her head.

"Let me finish," she told him, but *he* shook his head.

"I can't, Cassie, I'm too afraid of what you will say," he confessed, speaking more quickly now. "Please just let me--"

She kissed him suddenly, effectively silencing him even after she drew away. "Saryn, I told you before. All I want is you. If I have to have you between whatever else you're doing, then that's the way it has to be."

"But it doesn't," he whispered, staring at her. "You don't believe me--there's no reason you should--but I can give all that up if it means keeping you."

She had wanted to hear him say those words for so long now, and she felt a momentary flash of disorientation as she wondered if maybe she *was* still dreaming. But the same thing that had stopped her from asking him to stay before refused to accept his promise now, and, steeling her heart, she shook her head.

"You said 'if I'll let you'," she said softly, trying to keep her voice steady. "I won't. I won't let you give up your life for mine. We can make it work, Saryn. Somehow, we can both do what we have to and still have each other. Not…" She swallowed. "Maybe not the way either of us would want it, but we have to compromise."

He was looking at her with an expression of such longing that she had to force herself not to look away. She didn't like it anymore than he did, but the alternative he had suggested would never work. He would go crazy with boredom here on Earth, and she knew there was no place for her in his life.

"We've *been* compromising," he said, pausing when she looked at him intently.

"No," she corrected gently. "*I* compromised. You left, without ever telling me when I might see you again, and I waited."

"But I don't *have* to leave," he insisted, and she closed her eyes.

"Stop saying that, Saryn. You can't stay here; we both know that. All I'm asking is to know when I can hope to see you again… and maybe, to be able to spend more than a few minutes at a time with you when I *do* see you."

He just kept staring at her, as though he was trying to memorize her face for all time. Then he reached out, and she let him pull her into his embrace, wondering sadly if this was his way of saying goodbye again.

"I thought about you all day," he whispered suddenly, surprising her. "I *tried* to return to my life--I couldn't do it. Cassie, you say you won't let me stay here with you."

Her throat closed up, and she couldn't answer. She was turning down an offer that she had only dreamed of ever hearing, but she couldn't take it back. Better to have him leave, wanting to stay, than to have him stay, wanting to leave…

"What if--" He hesitated. "I do not even know enough of your life to know if this is possible, but I must ask. Is there any way that--you could come with me?"

She caught her breath, not sure she should believe what she was hearing. "What?" she whispered, pulling away to see his expression.

"Could you come with me, to Aquitar?" he repeated, giving her an anxious look. "I do not mean to presume…"

"I--" She just stared at him, trying to sort through the thoughts racing through her brain. Her immediate reaction had been an unqualified yes, but practicality reasserted itself before she could voice the word. "For how long?"

He shook his head, not taking his eyes off her. "As long as you want; as long as you can… The time doesn't matter, if it means we can be together."

"I… I can't," she said finally, disappointment sweeping over her. "I'm part of the team, Saryn. I can't just leave."

He winced, although she wasn't sure quite why. Closing his eyes, he muttered, "I never thought to find myself arguing *against* duty--but they do have Zhane, now…"

He trailed off, as though he couldn't believe what he was saying, and she found herself wondering if a day or two would really make a difference. Andros and Zhane had been away that long, and they *did* have another Ranger now. Was it so wrong to want just a little time off?

"Yes," she whispered, and saw hope flicker through his eyes as they opened.

"What did you say?" he asked tentatively, and she smiled a little.

"Yes," she repeated. "I want to go with you, Saryn. I'll have to talk to the others, first, and I don't think I can be gone for very long--but I want to go."

He reached out, running his fingers along her cheek with an expression of wonder on his face. "And you thought *you* were dreaming…"

The jarring buzz of her alarm cut through the moment, and she had to smile at his startled expression. "If either of us were, that would have woken us up," she said, leaning over to silence it once more. This time, she made sure to turn it all the way off instead of just setting the snooze.

"Thank you," she added fervently, putting her arms around him and hugging him again. "Thank you for not being a dream," she said quietly, knowing how silly she sounded but unable to help herself.

"Thank you for *being* my dream," he murmured, and she squeezed him tighter before pulling away and standing up. She could feel his eyes on her as she walked across the room, but there had, after all, been a reason that her alarm had gone off at such an outrageously early hour as this.

She hadn't thought of it yesterday, when she took the first ones, but the nurse in the emergency room told her that she would need to take a second dose of the contraceptives twelve hours later. *After this, it's just one each morning,* she reminded herself, swallowing them with an effort. She hated pills.

"Cassie?" she heard Saryn ask slowly. "What are you taking?"

"I'm not ready for children," she said quietly, setting down the glass she'd left on her bureau.

His eyes were wide when she turned back to him. "Is that even possible?" he asked. "We're not--"

He didn't finish, but he didn't have to. He might not be human, but he had to be close, and she didn't want to take the chance. "Let's not find out the hard way," she murmured, putting a hand over her stomach in anticipation of the mild nausea that had plagued her yesterday evening.

He was off the futon and at her side in a matter of seconds, and she had to smile at his attention. "I'm fine," she promised, letting him guide her back to her bed.

"I'm sorry, Cassie," he told her, obviously chagrinned. "I did not think. Jenna…" He hesitated, hovering at her side as she sat back down. "Jenna could not have children," he continued, more quietly. "And it simply did not occur to me to ask you."

"It's all right," she said, touched by his sudden revelation. She tugged at his arm, making him sit down beside her. "And stop hovering. I don't need a protector, you know; I can take care of myself."

But despite her words, she was glad of his concern. She had told Ashley she wasn't always sure he cared, but in this case, there was nothing she loved more than being proven wrong.

"I know that," he said quietly. "I have no doubt of it--but it doesn't stop me from *wanting* to protect you, no matter what. And it will never stop me from caring."

She sighed, leaning against his shoulder and feeling his arms encircle her. She let her eyes slide shut, wondering if that would be enough.

***

*"There was a girl named Tessa,"* Ali had told him, when he called from his uncle's house yesterday evening. *"She graduated last year, though."*

TJ didn't understand it. How could she be older than him? He distinctly remembered the two of them planning for college together--they had both been seniors in high school. He could just barely accept that different dimensions could contain people like him who had made different decisions… but how could *time* be different?

*"They're asking us out,"* Carlos had told him, relaying Karen's invitation. *"Come on, TJ. You know you want to go."*

He had no idea how he was supposed to talk to her. She was one of the prettiest, most self-assured girls he had ever met. And she was smarter than he would ever be…

He couldn't help remembering the sound of her laugh when Karen introduced her as an astrophysics major. *"Don't tell people that; you'll just scare them off!"*

Carlos had refused to believe that he could be tongue-tied, pointing out that he had spoken to her easily enough earlier. But that had been when he had something else to distract him--namely, his frustration with math. On an actual date, even a double date, he would have very little to concentrate on other than her, and he was afraid his nervousness would come through loud and clear.

*"You'll never know if you don't try,"* Carlos had pointed out, and at last TJ had agreed.

The lift doors opened onto a dimly lit Bridge, and he was surprised to see Zhane sitting at the helm, feet up on the console in front of him. He wasn't wearing his uniform, but the loose grey pants and silvery vest were not clothes that Tommy had loaned him the day before, either.

The Silver Ranger looked over his shoulder, eyes clear and strangely reflective. He smiled slightly when he saw TJ, and TJ nodded to him. "I thought you weren't an early riser," TJ commented, wandering onto the Bridge and leaning against the second row of consoles.

Zhane shook his head. "I'm not, usually," he agreed. "But like I said last night, my internal clock has been off since I woke up from hypersleep. And Earth's days are a little longer than Rayven's--I haven't adjusted yet."

TJ nodded, coming forward to take the seat next to Zhane. "I didn't think of that."

"What about you?" Zhane asked, a moment later. "I got the impression you like to sleep in, too."

TJ smiled. "Oh, believe me, I do. When I think of the number of times that Cassie's had to drag me out of bed…"

Zhane looked a little puzzled by that. "I hope this isn't a rude question, but Cassie--I mean, you and Cassie aren't a couple."

"No," TJ said, chuckling as he realized what Zhane must have thought he meant. "We're definitely not. But… well, Ashley and Carlos were friends long before they were Rangers. Me and Cassie were both new in town when we were chosen, and we've always kind of stuck together."

Zhane nodded, accepting that. They were quiet again, until he observed, "You didn't tell me why you're up early, though."

TJ couldn't help sighing. "For once, I couldn't sleep."

"Girl troubles?" Zhane asked knowingly.

TJ gave him a startled look. "You could say that, yeah. How did you know?"

Zhane grinned. "Let's just say that I know that expression. Just remember that the good ones like you for who you are, not the way *they* want to be."

TJ had to think about that, staring out at the realtime image of stars visible over the curve of the planet below. "That was oddly insightful, Zhane," he said at last.

Zhane only shrugged. "I try."

*This is the Zhane that Andros knows,* TJ thought suddenly, looking sideways at the Silver Ranger. The other was gazing at the stars now as well, even as he had been when TJ's meandering route had brought him to the Bridge.

He seemed lost in his own thoughts once more, and the only trace of his usual flamboyance was the slightly amused air that lingered about him. It wasn't at all hard to see how someone like this could have befriended their reserved and often pensive leader.

The two sat in silence for some time, watching the blue-green planet turn beneath them as they circled it. The sun rose over the edge of the Earth's surface, and the Megaship soared soundlessly across the terminator line between darkness and light.

Finally, the illumination on the Bridge brightened, and DECA's voice announced, "It is seven o'clock."

On the edge of his vision, TJ saw Zhane stretch. "Guess I should change into something less conspicuous," he remarked, voice sounding a little odd after the long quiet.

TJ glanced over at him. "Are those clothes from Rayven?"

Zhane nodded. "Silver's never been an easy color to live with," he said wryly.

TJ considered his outfit. "You could wear that vest open over a t-shirt without looking out of place," he suggested.

"Think so?" Zhane looked down. "I'll try that."

TJ put his hands on the console and stood up, catching his chair as it swiveled to one side. "I think it's time to go annoy Carlos by being up earlier than he is."

Zhane grinned, and they both headed for the lift. The corridor was empty when they arrived on deck five, and the Kerovan nodded to TJ before disappearing into his room at the other end of the hall. TJ himself leaned against the wall outside Carlos's room, waiting for the Black Ranger with a smile on his face.

Ashley's door opened first, and he glanced toward the sound. His intended greeting went unspoken as he saw both her and Andros step out into the hall. Andros was in his uniform--though his jacket was nowhere to be seen--but Ashley was wearing the sweatpants and tank top she always wore to bed.

She saw him before Andros did, and the expression of annoyance on her face was almost comical. "Hi, TJ," she sighed.

"Such enthusiasm," he teased, watching Andros shift uncomfortably.

Carlos chose that moment to walk out into the corridor, and his eyes flicked from TJ to the two Rangers standing outside Ashley's room. "Good morning," he said, his tone somewhere between startled and amused.

Ashley sighed again. "This is *so* unfair. I don't suppose anyone would believe me if I said we didn't sleep together."

Andros shifted again, and TJ couldn't resist the opportunity to tease them again. "Not with Andros looking so guilty, no."

She immediately glanced at Andros, and down the hall, Zhane's door slid open. Everyone looked in his direction, and he paused momentarily. "What?"

Before anyone could answer, though, he added, "Andros, you're supposed to leave her room *before* everyone else gets up."

TJ grinned, and he heard Carlos stifle a chuckle. Ashley just threw her hands up in the air. "I give up," she announced.

Turning to Andros, she put both hands on his face, kissing him long and hard. To TJ's amazement, Andros did not resist. His hands settled on her waist, and he returned her kiss in a display of passion that TJ had never thought to see from him.

Zhane whistled, and the two of them broke apart. Andros was blushing, and Ashley looked a little breathless, but she retained her composure. "I'm going to change," she said calmly. "I'll see you all at breakfast."

She turned and stepped back into her room, letting the door close behind her. Andros quickly walked across the hall and disappeared into his own room, leaving Carlos and TJ to exchange glances.

"Well, I'm convinced," Carlos said wryly.

_fin_


	28. Ordinary Life

_Disclaimer: It's not my fault! PHANTOM made me do it! And Saban started it…_

**Ordinary Life  
by Starhawk**

The house was quiet, not surprising on a summer Saturday morning. Her mother didn't work weekends, and Jeff didn't have to be at the pool until the afternoon. Ashley would have been surprised if anyone *had* been up already.

She knocked on the guestroom door quietly, knowing it probably wouldn't do any good. Anything loud enough to wake Cassie could rouse the entire household. But she made a token effort before giving up and pushing the door open.

"Cassie," she whispered, wincing as the sunlight hit her eyes. Cassie's room was on the east side of the house, and she never drew the curtains.

Ashley took only three steps into the room before her vision adjusted enough for her to make out the figures on Cassie's futon. The *two* figures… She wasn't sure whether to be startled or embarrassed when Saryn's unblinking blue eyes met hers.

"You--you're back," she stammered, realizing how foolish that was even as she said it.

He nodded wordlessly, and Cassie stirred a little in her sleep. "I could not stay away," he murmured, glancing at the girl beside him.

Ashley smiled as her friend turned within Saryn's embrace, still asleep, and buried her face against his chest. He closed his eyes for a moment, arm tightening around her and a smile of his own creeping across his face.

"I'm glad," Ashley said at last, her voice quiet. "She needs you as much as you need her."

"I doubt that very much," he murmured, looking at Ashley once more. "But I, too, am glad."

She hated to disturb this peaceful scene, but the others were going to start wondering what had happened to her. "TJ's uncle offered to make breakfast for all of us," she said quietly. "I was coming to find Cassie, but you're more than welcome to join us."

He looked just the slightest bit surprised before his expression smoothed out--if she were to guess, she thought he probably kept forgetting that people could see his face now, instead of only his armor. He had an impeccable poker face… when he remembered to use it.

Instead of answering, he touched Cassie's shoulder. "Cassie," he whispered, leaning over to kiss the top of her head. "Are you awake?"

Ashley's eyes widened as Cassie murmured, "No…"

"Do you want breakfast?" he asked, stroking hair away from her face.

"No," she repeated, nestling closer to him.

"Um, Cassie?" Ashley wasn't sure how long Cassie had been awake, and she didn't want to startle her. "I'm sure the others would understand if you want to sleep in, but TJ's uncle is making pancakes for everyone…"

Cassie didn't say anything for a minute. "Real food?" she mumbled at last, and Saryn smiled.

Cassie sighed. "I guess I could get up. Morning, Saryn," she added, almost as an afterthought. She tilted her head, and he kissed her mouth gently.

Ashley looked away. Cassie was wearing his tunic over her nightshirt, and Saryn had apparently slept in the clothes Carlos had loaned him, but if she had had any doubt about them being lovers before, it was gone now. The simple fact that neither of them thought twice about such an intimate gesture convinced her.

"I'll just wait for you guys in the kitchen, okay?" She backed out into the hallway, pulling the door shut behind her. *This,* she thought wryly, *is *so* unfair. They really *are* sleeping together, and all anyone can talk about is me and Andros…*

Touching her communicator, she smiled involuntarily when Andros's voice asked, "What's up, Ash?"

"Cassie's coming," she said, "and Saryn's here, too. But we'll just be a minute--I want to leave my parents a note to tell them we'll be coming over for dinner."

There was a pause, and she could hear Andros relaying her words to the others already at TJ's place. "Phantom's there?" she heard TJ ask, in the background, and she could almost see Andros giving him The Look.

"All right, then--we'll see you in a few minutes," Andros said at last, and she smiled.

"Love you," Ashley said quietly, hoping he hadn't closed the link yet.

He hadn't. "I love you too," Andros answered without hesitation.

Then, from somewhere in the background, she heard Carlos yell, "Stop chatting and get over here, Ash! There won't be any pancakes left by the time you get here!"

She tried not to giggle. "All right, all right, tell him I'm coming. See you soon."

She broke the link before she was tempted to talk to Andros longer. For once, no one had walked off with the pen left by the phone for taking messages, and she used it to scrawl a quick note to her parents.

Andros had met her parents before, of course; all the Rangers had, except for Zhane and Saryn. But they hadn't seen him in a while--heck, they hadn't seen *her* in a while--and she hoped it would be a good thing for them to get to know him as her boyfriend instead of just her friend.

She left the note on the table and went to knock on Cassie's door again. "Come in," Cassie called, and Ashley peered in. Her friend, in jean shorts and a pink t-shirt, jammed her feet into sandals as Ashley came in. Holding her hair away from her face, she added, "Just let me find a scrunchy, and we can go."

"A 'scrunchy'?" Saryn repeated, folding her comforter in half once more before setting it carefully on her futon.

"You know, a hair thing," Cassie said distractedly. "An elastic, to keep it out of my face."

She grabbed one out of a bureau drawer, and Ashley saw her slip her birth control pills into her pocket before she twisted the scrunchy around her hair. "All right; I'm ready."

TJ's house was scene of controlled chaos by the time they arrived. Or at least chaos; the control was debatable. The door opened before they could knock, and Andros grabbed Ashley into a hug. "I heard you coming," he whispered in her ear, and she laughed, hugging him back.

"Glad you missed me," she replied quietly.

Carlos, coming around the kitchen counter with more pancakes, teased, "Aw… Aren't they sweet?"

"Shut up, Carlos," Ashley said calmly, letting Andros pull her out of the doorway so Cassie and Saryn could enter.

Carlos mimed being stabbed in the heart. "She doesn't value my opinion!"

"No one values your opinion; just your pancakes," TJ told him, taking the plate away from him. "Hi guys," he added with a grin, ducking as Carlos swung at him. "Come on in."

"Hello!" another voice called from the kitchen. "I'd come out and say hello in person, but my duties as cook would be compromised."

TJ laughed, leading them into the living room. It extended into a screened off porch on the other end, and was separated from the kitchen by a waist-high counter. "Ashley and Cassie are here, Uncle Max, and this is Saryn. He's the Phantom Ranger."

The man in the kitchen just waved over his shoulder. "Give me a minute, and--aha!" Ashley tried not to giggle as he flipped another round of pancakes onto a plate beside the stove with a flourish. "There we go," he said, satisfied.

"Hey!" TJ exclaimed suddenly, as Carlos grabbed the plate he had been holding out of his hands again.

"Well, you weren't eating them," the Black Ranger said. "And Ashley and Cassie haven't had any yet."

"Oh, so it was a purely charitable act," TJ suggested skeptically.

"That's right," Carlos replied, giving the plate to Ashley. He pointed at Cassie. "Share," he instructed, and she giggled. 

"Yes, sir." Ashley looked around. "Um--another plate, please?"

TJ's uncle came around the counter as Carlos got another plate and silverware for them. "I'm Maxwell Carter," he introduced himself, holding out his right hand to Saryn. "But everyone calls me Max."

Saryn returned the gesture, somewhat uncertainly. "I am--" He hesitated. "My name is Saryn."

Max sighed. "Great. Another alien name I'm bound to screw up. I apologize in advance for my pronunciation; took me weeks to figure out how to say Andros's." He paused. "Sairn?"

"Saryn," Saryn corrected, glancing at TJ.

Ashley raised her eyebrow at Carlos. "What, we don't get any syrup?" she demanded quietly.

"Am I your slave?" he replied indignantly. "No, don't answer that."

"Two syllables," Cassie said, taking on seat on one of the stools by the counter.

"Thank you," Max said, glancing briefly in her direction. "Saryn?" he tried again, and this time Saryn nodded.

"Or at least close enough that you won't correct me," Max remarked with a smile. "Zhane is the only otherworldly name I've gotten on the first try."

From where he was lounging against the sliding door to the porch, Zhane waved in acknowledgement. "Oh, I just remembered," he said, coming over to sit next to Cassie. "Thanks for letting me borrow this."

He held out the barrette Cassie had been wearing yesterday, and Ashley saw Saryn look in their direction. "Thanks," Cassie murmured, and Ashley couldn't figure out why she was suddenly so flustered. "I mean, you're welcome…"

Zhane smiled. "It really helped."

She nodded wordlessly, eyes on her plate, and Carlos broke the quiet by appearing at Ashley's side with the syrup. "Here," he said loudly, passing it to Andros. "You can be her servant now; I'm quitting."

Andros took the bottle, looking somewhat startled, and Ashley giggled. "Thanks," she said, but before she could add anything sarcastic, Max intervened.

"Every woman needs more than one servant," he reproved Carlos. "Might as well learn that now."

"Hey, are these for me?" TJ called from the stove, and Max looked over his shoulder.

"Of course not," he answered. "Saryn still hasn't had any--where are your manners?"

"I left them on the Megaship," TJ answered good-naturedly. "Saryn, do you like pancakes?"

"How would he know?" Ashley asked wryly. "He's never had them. They're good," she added, glancing at Saryn. Still staring at Cassie, he did not answer. "Saryn?"

"I'll take them if he doesn't want them," Zhane spoke up, leaning over the counter.

Cassie glared at him, looking more than a little annoyed, and he aborted the gesture, holding his hands out to the side. "What?"

She sighed. "Nothing; sorry." She reached over the counter and took the plate from TJ. "Saryn, c'mere."

To Ashley's surprise, he did, and she made him sit down. "Hey, what did you put in this batter, anyway?" TJ demanded, still standing by the stove.

"TJ!" Max yelped, hurrying back into the kitchen. "Have I taught you nothing? Never, ever, touch another artist's work… and certainly don't stick your finger in the pancake batter!"

TJ took his finger out of his mouth and hid it behind his back guiltily. "Sorry," he offered.

"Hey, Zhane, where'd you hide the syrup?" Carlos demanded suddenly.

Zhane gave him an odd look. "You took it."

"I have it," Andros added at the same time, and Zhane looked at his friend automatically.

Catching his eye, Ashley tilted her head, trying to get him to join them. He frowned, but he got up nonetheless and joined them by the sliding door. "Zhane," Ashley whispered when he was close enough. "Do me a favor and don't sit next to Cassie, okay?"

"What?" he asked, giving every indication of being startled. Could he really not know what she was talking about?

Carlos had seen it, too. "You're making Phantom jealous," he told the Silver Ranger quietly.

"That's not my fault," Zhane objected, bristling, and Ashley motioned to him to lower his voice.

"Who wants more pancakes?" Max called from the kitchen, interrupting their whispered conversation.

"I'd love some more, if you don't mind," Carlos answered, stepping away from the group. "Thanks, Max," he added with a smile, heading into the kitchen.

"No problem," TJ's uncle replied, and Ashley frowned at her own plate.

"Do you have a microwave, Max?"

"You are *not* microwaving my pancakes," came the reply. "Bring them over here."

She shrugged at Andros and did as she was told. As she walked around the counter, she heard Cassie telling Saryn quietly, "You have to trust me, Saryn. I can't deal with feeling that every time I look at someone else…"

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Andros talking to Zhane, and she figured that was a good sign. "What are you going to do with these?" she asked skeptically, handing her plate to Max.

He cleared the pan, giving the new pancakes to TJ, and tossed hers, one by one, back onto the pan. "Old-fashioned reheating," he said smugly.

"Yeah, right," TJ opined, cutting into his stack of pancakes. "Modern gas stove, techno pan and all--very old-fashioned."

"You're one to talk, spaceboy," Max retorted.

Ashley choked. "'Spaceboy'?" she repeated, amused.

"Andros, how 'bout some of that syrup?" TJ called, giving Ashley a mock-threatening look. "Don't even think about it."

"What, calling you 'spaceboy'?" Max asked blithely, expertly flipping her pancakes back and forth to avoid cooking them anymore. Pushing them back onto her plate, he held it out to her and winked. "I think it has a certain ring to it, personally."

She grinned at him. "Definitely." She looked over in surprise as Andros handed her the syrup. "Oh, thanks."

"Hey!" TJ exclaimed.

"Ladies first," Carlos reminded him, a smug look on his face.

TJ waved a fork in his direction menacingly. "Stop corrupting Andros with chivalry!"

"Don't have to." Carlos grinned. "Zhane already did it. I'm just reminding him."

"Yeah, well, he was never very good at it," Zhane remarked, leaning nonchalantly on the end of the counter.

Ashley set her plate down carefully and put her arms around Andros. "I think you're perfect," she murmured, and she felt him hug her back.

"Not as perfect as you," he whispered, and she squeezed him tighter, smiling.

"You didn't tell me they'd finally gotten together, TJ," Max commented, pouring more batter onto the pan.

Ashley pulled away from Andros to give TJ a look. He just shrugged sheepishly. "Well, everyone else knew you two had feelings for each other."

"And I love gossip," Max added, unrepentant. "So why wasn't I informed of this latest development?"

"We've been a little busy," Carlos put in wryly.

"Guys?" Cassie interrupted the banter with such a serious tone that Ashley looked in her direction curiously.

"More pancakes?" Max asked over his shoulder, and she blinked. 

"No, thank you," Cassie answered. "But they were really good," she added hastily. "Thanks for making them."

"No problem," Max replied good-naturedly. "Please, continue."

"Umm…" She glanced over at Saryn. "I was wondering what you guys would think about me going to Aquitar for a little while."

No one said anything for a moment, leaving the kitchen eerily quiet in the wake of her words. "Why?" Andros asked at last, and Ashley elbowed him gently, resisting the temptation to roll her eyes.

Cassie lifted her chin. "Because Saryn asked me to. And because I want to."

Ashley exchanged glances with TJ, and saw him catch Carlos's eye. She was surprised to see the other smile a little, knowing as she did that Carlos had never been particularly impressed by either the Phantom Ranger or Cassie's reaction to him.

"Look, I know it leaves the team short," Cassie said with a sigh. "But Zhane's here, and it would only be for a day or two."

TJ broke the silence first. "I don't see why you shouldn't," he said with a shrug. "It's no different from one of us going on vacation, after all."

Andros nodded. "TJ's right. We can always call you if we need you."

"You can, too, remember," Ashley said, going over to hug her friend. "Call us if you get in trouble."

Max offered a plate to Carlos. "Yours, I believe," he said quietly.

"Thanks," Carlos said, looking surprised and pleased at the same time. "I really appreciate it, Max--these are great."

"My pleasure," TJ's uncle said with a smile.

"So when are you leaving?" Carlos asked, reaching around Ashley for the syrup.

Catching sight of her plate, Max poked her unceremoniously in the shoulder. "Eat your pancakes before they get cold again," he rebuked, and she reached out to pull her plate over to her, smiling.

"After breakfast, I guess," Cassie said, glancing at Saryn again.

"Whenever you are ready," he responded.

"Ah, young love," Max said with a dramatic sigh. "I remember what it was like…"

"You're not old, Uncle Max," TJ said, chuckling.

Max eyed him. "No, but I feel old when you call me 'Uncle'. How many times have I told you to knock it off?"

"How many times have I told you not to call me 'spaceboy'?" TJ retorted. "It hasn't stopped you yet."

Savoring her pancakes, so much better than DECA's synthesized breakfasts, Ashley tried not to giggle. It was so nice to be normal, sometimes. It was nice to forget that they were responsible for the safety of an entire world, and just be able to laugh with each other over breakfast.

She knew she would never have had friends like these without the Rangers. But at the same time, they were friends first and Power Rangers second--sometimes, they could get so caught up in the battle that they forgot that. It was good to be reminded.

***

"Zhane!" Andros yelped, glancing over his shoulder at the ten meter drop behind him. "Watch it!"

"Sorry," came the sheepish reply. "I slipped."

"Well, don't," Ashley said from her place of relative security on the staging set up outside the Megaship's hull. "I'd like to keep my boyfriend in one piece, thank you very much."

"I'm sure you would," Zhane's voice answered from the other side of the replacement plating, and the smug amusement in his tone made Andros blush.

"If *you* want to stay in one piece," he threatened, "you'll move back about three steps."

He heard his friend mutter something about "pushy" and "Red Rangers", and his lips quirked upward. "That's the problem with a Silver Ranger," he confided to Ashley, just loud enough for Zhane to overhear. "No Astro morpher. He thinks that means he doesn't have to take orders."

Zhane snorted, but he backed up, giving Andros a little more room to maneuver. "What orders?" he demanded. "Since when do you give orders?"

"As soon as I met people who actually listened to them!" Andros shot back.

"And I was thinking so well of your new teammates until now," Zhane teased.

"Too bad we don't return the favor," Ashley interjected, a smirk on her face. "Andros may think you're good, but the rest of us know better."

"Hey!" Zhane exclaimed. "Don't mock me--I don't have to worry about falling anywhere, remember."

Ashley surveyed her perch. "You couldn't knock me off of here if you tried."

Andros heard his friend sigh. "Well, not right now, no. But if Andros ever decides where to put his feet, it'll be another story."

"Take your time, Andros," Ashley advised sweetly, and he smiled.

*Zhane, this has to be a little higher on the right,* he thought, and the plating tipped further onto its side. *I'm going to back up two steps, all right?*

*Picture me saluting,* Zhane answered.

Glancing over his shoulder again, Andros stepped backward carefully. The first step took him to the edge of the hangar bay, into the hole they'd left when they tore the unstable patch off of the hull. The second put him outside, on the staging NASADA had generously loaned and helped them set up.

"I'm going sideways now," Andros said, using his hands to steady the plating while he and Zhane telekinetically dragged it into position. With the insulated metal sheet outside and nearly vertical, he asked, *Ready?*

*Let's do it,* he heard Zhane reply, and between the two of them, they managed to heave the plating upright against the hull. The opposing sides locked into an overlap pattern with the surrounding hull, and Ashley quickly leaned forward to attach the magnetic clamps that would keep it from sliding while they bolted and sealed it.

*I've got it clamped from this side,* Zhane told him, and Andros nodded.

*It's set out here, too,* he said, watching Ashley grab hold of the staging and sit back from the hull. *We should be able to take it from here.*

*Great,* Zhane answered, sounding satisfied. *I'll go see what I can do with that laser array.*

*Thanks,* Andros said. Knowing Ashley could hear at least his side of the conversation, all he could say was, *I appreciate it.*

*You got it,* Zhane replied. *No problem.*

Ashley was more mechanically inclined than Zhane, and could probably have it finished in less time. But the nightmares she had had last night made him hesitant to ask her, and Zhane had volunteered for the job before he could decide.

"All set?" Ashley asked, looking up at him.

He nodded. "Zhane's gone to work on the laser array."

She looked down, and he realized that she knew perfectly well why Zhane had volunteered. "Thanks, Andros," she said quietly.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," he answered, dropping down beside her. "It takes time to get over something like that. You don't have to go anywhere near the lower decks until you want to."

"Thanks," she repeated, smiling at him a little. He reached out to hug her, and they embraced on a staging platform high above NASADA's secured facility grounds.

***

It took him longer than it should have to replace the laser array, and by the time he rejoined Andros and Ashley, they were sealing the inside of the hull. They were both sealing the *same* side of the plating, standing far too close, and he watched in amusement until Ashley caught sight of him.

"Hey, Zhane," she said, a warm smile on her face. 

Andros looked up too, with a slightly guilty expression as he edged away from Ashley. "Hey guys," Zhane answered, grinning. "The starboard lasers should be operational again, but we'll have to test them once we get out of the atmosphere."

Ashley gave him a wry look. "You mean as opposed to testing them here? What a good idea…"

He tried to give her an Andros Look, but he couldn't get the smile off his face. "Yeah, well, every now and then I come up with something brilliant."

Ashley giggled. "I guess that wasn't it."

He just shook his head. "I suppose not," he admitted good-naturedly. "Need any help?"

They exchanged glances, and he couldn't help feeling a little disoriented. Andros had never been one to open up to others, and seeing him so comfortable with someone else took some getting used to. Zhane reminded himself that there was no reason to be jealous--but *convincing* himself was another matter.

"We're almost done, actually," Andros answered, giving the hull a token glance. "It'll probably only take another few minutes."

Zhane shrugged, keeping his smile in place with a little more effort than usual. "All right. If you've got things under control, I think I'm going to go for a walk."

Andros gave him a concerned look, and Zhane knew his friend had noticed. "If you want to wait, we can all go have lunch or something as soon as Ash and I finish this."

Zhane just looked at the two of them for a moment, Andros as relaxed as Zhane had ever seen him, standing with his… girlfriend. Things had changed so much in such a short time; it was unbelievable. "Actually--I hope you don't mind, but I sort of feel like being alone for a while."

*Zhane…* Andros's voice echoed in his mind. *Are you okay?*

*I'm fine,* he promised. *Still reeling from the time change, you know? Your "two years" still feels like yesterday to me, and I just need to work things out in my mind.*

Andros nodded reluctantly. *We're still best friends, Zhane,* he said firmly. *Nothing will change that.*

*Forever,* Zhane answered automatically, and Andros echoed it with a smile.

"Have a good afternoon," he told them lightly, waving as he turned to leave.

"You too," Ashley responded, and he smiled. Andros couldn't have found a better person to complement his own reserved personality.

*Once I was that person,* Zhane thought, unbidden. His world filled with a rain of silver as he teleported into the park he had walked through with Cassie only the night before. Wandering out into the open, he found a sunny spot and seated himself in the grass even as she had.

Although he had told Andros he wanted to think, what he really wanted to do was forget. Forget that it had been two years since he had last sat in the sun like this, forget that everyone he knew had gone on with their lives while he hung in a timeless limbo… forget that Andros had grown up while he, for all intents and purposes, had died.

Zhane was seventeen now, but his fifteenth birthday had been only two months ago. Andros had been there, as always, and just as he was now--but subtly different. He had been *Zhane's* Andros then… was he now? Did sharing him with Ashley make him less accessible?

Zhane sighed, wishing he had answers to *any* of his questions. How much had he missed? How old was he now, really? *Who* was he, really?

A slight movement made him look up, and he blinked. The girl he had walked through the park the night before stood there, leaning casually against a tree trunk and regarding him with no expression on her face. "Hi," he said finally, when she didn't seem inclined to speak.

"Hi," she replied after a moment.

He tried to smile. "I'm Zhane," he offered. "I don't think I caught your name last night."

"Ast--" She hesitated midword, as though surprised she was telling him. "Astrea."

"That's pretty," he said, but he couldn't muster any of his usual charm. "Look," Zhane told the girl, sighing. "I really don't mean to be rude, but I… I don't really feel like talking right now."

She didn't answer right away. Then she straightened, and instead of walking away as he had expected, she paced carefully toward him and sat down a short distance away. "Neither do I."

He looked at her in surprise, but she was no longer watching him. Instead, she stared out across the park, apparently as lost in her own thoughts as he had been in his a moment ago. The corner of his mouth quirked a little, and he shrugged to himself, following her gaze. The sun continued across the sky, casting dark shadows between the two of them.

***

"Have fun at the beach," Karen said with a smile, tossing her bag into the passenger seat.

"Thanks," he said, stepping back. "Good luck at work--see you tonight."

"You'd better," she said, her smile unfazed. "Me and Tessa went to a lot of trouble to set this up."

He grinned. "Wouldn't miss it for the world," Carlos promised, hoping the world--and more specifically Astronema--didn't decide to test that statement.

She pulled her door shut and waved through the open window as she started the car. "See you!"

He lifted a hand as she drove away, smiling as her car came to an abrupt halt at the parking lot entrance. Karen drove the way she did everything else--fast, and just carelessly enough to be endearing.

TJ was waiting by his black Explorer, leaning against the passenger side and watching him with an amused expression. "Sorry," Carlos apologized, unlocking his own door and climbing in to get TJ's.

"No problem," TJ assured him, pulling the door open and shoving his bag into the back. "I just barely finished. Hey, what did you think of that exam?"

Carlos shrugged, leaving his door open as TJ joined him in the front seat so some of the heat could escape. "Not as bad as I expected."

TJ breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Good--it was easier than I thought it would be too, and I thought maybe I was missing something…"

Carlos laughed. "Nah. Just good study habits. You ready to go?"

TJ hesitated. "We'd better check with Andros; make sure he and Zhane and Ash got the hull repaired first."

Carlos nodded, and TJ reached for his communicator. The last thing either of them wanted to do after taking a two-hour trig exam was to seal hull plating, but it was only fair. It was their ship too, after all.

TJ touched a button on his morpher, now disguised as the same color-banded communicators they had used as Turbo Rangers. "Andros, how are the repairs coming?"

There was a longer than normal pause, and then Andros's voice came back, sounding a little--breathless. "They're all done, TJ."

Carlos raised an eyebrow, exchanging glances with TJ. He had never, in all the months they'd known him, heard Andros breathless. He almost asked if the other was all right--before the memory of Andros and Ashley sharing an intense kiss outside her room that morning made him pause.

"Andros, are you--" TJ began, and Carlos hit his shoulder gently, giving the communicator a significant glance.

TJ looked puzzled, until Ashley's giggle carried clearly over the open comm frequency. His eyes widened, and Carlos asked quickly, "You're sure you don't need any help?"

"No, we're fine, thanks," Ashley answered, sounding almost as out of breath as Andros. "How was the exam?"

"It was all right," Carlos said. *I *bet* they don't need any help…* "We didn't mean to interrupt--you two have a good afternoon."

"Back at you," Ashley said, just before the comm link clicked off.

They just sat there for a moment, until Carlos looked over at TJ. The Blue Ranger just shrugged. "No comment."

Carlos shook his head, a smile on his face as he slipped the key into the ignition. "Let's hit the beach," he said, pulling his door shut. TJ flipped the radio on and followed suit. The sport utility vehicle leaped forward across the sunlit lot, music up and windows down as it headed for the ocean.

***

Ashley burst out laughing as Andros broke the link with TJ's morpher. Throwing her arms out to the sides, she let herself fall backward in the grass from her seated position, giggling uncontrollably. "Oh, Andros…"

He gave her a puzzled look. "What?"

That only set her off again, and she pushed her helmet off her head as she lay in the short grass that lined the paved park paths. Echoing her motion as he sat beside her, he pulled his other wristguard off and ran a hand through his hair. He was waiting for her to explain, his expression a study in patience, and she tried to get her laughter under control.

"It's TJ and Carlos," she managed at last, still giggling a little. "They think--" She tried to get the grin off her face, but she couldn't quite do it. "They think we're making out."

Andros didn't look any less puzzled. "'Making out'?" he repeated, and she realized he had no idea what the phrase meant, or why Carlos had been so quick to end the conversation.

"Umm…" She sobered a little as she wondered how to explain *this* one. It hadn't even occurred to her that he wouldn't know. Sitting up, she pulled her own wristguards off, drawing her feet closer to her until the wheels on her rollerblades clicked against each other as she stalled for time.

"It's like--it's like last night, when we were kissing… just before we went back to the Megaship," she explained, trying not to blush. "It's… not sleeping together, but--more than just kissing."

"It's what you were doing," Andros said softly, reaching out to stroke her face.

She swallowed, hoping he wasn't upset. "Yeah," she admitted. "That's what I was doing."

He brushed a strand of hair away from her face and leaned closer. She closed her eyes as he kissed her, feeling his lips warm on hers and the heat of his body radiating into her after their mock-race down the skating path. Drawing back the smallest fraction of an inch, he whispered, "Show me?"

Her eyes flickered open, and she stared at him, wondering if he was serious. Then he kissed her again, and she returned it without hesitation, her hand running up his arm to caress his shoulder. She felt his arms go around her, and she leaned into him, heart pounding as she kissed him harder.

They held onto each other, lost in love and an embrace that could keep them together for the rest of their lives. Oblivious to the stares of passersby, heedless of the communicators wrapped around their wrists, they were, for a few brief minutes, just two teenagers enjoying the careless freedom of youth.

High above, a clear blue sky hid the stars beyond. Refracted sunlight lit the atmosphere, covering the myriad points of sparkling light that were satellites, planets, other stars, and distant galaxies. 

It obscured the route taken earlier by two teleportation beams, one bright pink and the other a red so deep it could barely be separated from the inky blackness of space. It muffled the glow of a battleship, a fortress in close orbit above the peaceful planet. It drowned out the far-off laser fire, battles in a war this world did not know existed.

It wrapped the Earth in a comforting sapphire shine, sunlight bringing growth and new beginnings to the life below.

***

_Author's Note: So that's the end of "First Kiss". Some awesome people have helped me in a big way with this series, and since I have a terrible habit of not thanking them, I thought I'd do that now. (Feel free to leave at any point ;) )_

Thanks to my sister Marci, the coolest person in the world, for about a hundred thousand brainstorming sessions. Thanks for sharing the insanity, and just for being there.

Thanks to Adri, my fellow stalkee, for, um… Shared psychic psychosis? Thanks for sharing the obsession, and teaching me a thing or two about evilness.

Thanks to Dawn, Lenni, and Jewel, for their support, encouragement, or just plain witty comments. Thanks to all those cool people who took the time to let me know what they thought, and thanks to website-running people for all the time and effort they put into their libraries. (And pic archives… but that's another story.)

Thanks to Saban, for, uh, ripping off Toei, and bringing these characters to the US. Thanks to my muse, Zeke, for turning me into a PRIS writer like another victim I could mention, and for bringing home all those penguins… I think…

And thanks to you, for reading :)


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